The Breach: A Digimon Tamers Story
by radredknuxfan
Summary: Two months have passed since the Tamers defeated the D-Reaper, and things are finally returning to normal. However, life throws them a curveball as their Digimon suddenly reappear without any explanation. They're all ecstatic to be reunited, but they soon realize that there is a reason they're together once again. Rated T for some dark themes. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

I'll admit that I'm sort of an off and on fan of Digimon. There's some times whenever I can't get enough of it, and others where I completely forget about it. This is during one of the on moments, though. Anyway, I've only just thought of this idea a few minutes before writing this, so I apologize if it's not very well thought out.

* * *

It was another day in the city of Shinjuku. Two months have passed since the defeat of the D-Reaper, and life has gone back to normal, or at least as normal as you could get considering the city got nearly wiped off of the map.

Inside the building where the headquarters of Hypnos is located, Yamaki was staring at the screen inside of the control center, absentmindedly flipping his lighter open and closed repeatedly.

As for Riley and Tally, they were both hard at work in their seats keeping an eye out for any new breaches between their world and the Digital World. However, there hasn't even been a blip for god knows how long now, so they didn't really have much to do.

Tired, Riley lifted her visor and looked over at Tally. However, before she could say something to her, she noticed Yamaki standing where he was.

"Sir, are you alright?"

The click of the lighter stopped.

"I'm fine. I've just been thinking."

Tally removed her visor as well as she spoke up.

"Really? What about?"

"It's been two months since the D-Reaper was destroyed, and there's been only minimal activity within the plane between our two worlds. I'm beginning to think it might be a good time to take a break and head out for once."

"But, are you sure, sir? Shouldn't we be here just in case a Wild One shows up?" asked Riley.

The flat stare Yamaki had on his face gave Riley enough of an answer, as she remembered the fact that there have been no sightings in over a month.

Sighing, she turned towards Tally.

"Do you want to go get something to eat?"

"Sure, I'd love to. How about you, sir?"

Yamaki paused to think before answering.

"No thanks. I'm gonna head to my office."

Riley opened her mouth to try to convince Yamaki to come, but she noticed Tally shake her head, and she knew that meant to let him go.

"Is there any time that you want us to come back?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it. Take all the time you need."

Both Riley and Tally traded looks before lowering their chairs and hopping out of them, heading out the door as Yamaki continued to stare at the screen.

In his mind, Yamaki was debating whether or not to do what he told the girls he would do. As much as he wanted to keep an eye on the screen to see if there was any activity, he knew that it was useless, especially considering how long it had been.

So, after a few more seconds of thought, he put his lighter into his pocket and turned away from the screen, heading through the door as he decided that he was going to get some lunch himself.

However, just as the door closed behind him and he began making his way towards the front door of the building, nine blips suddenly appeared on the radar before disappearing a few seconds later.

* * *

Inside the confines of West Shinjuku Park, Takato Matsuki and his friends were enjoying the nice day, having just gotten out of school. Kazu and Kenta were playing a round of the Digimon card game in their usual spot while Suzie was watching. Sitting just outside of the structure were Rika and Ryo, who were spending their free time resting, looking up into the sky.

Finally, sitting next to a tree near where everyone else was Takato, Henry and Jeri. Compared to everyone else, there was a much lighter atmosphere between the three of them, as they laughed and talked.

"Man, it's great just having the chance to talk and not have to worry about anything for once." said Takato as he leaned against the tree.

"What, you mean besides school?" asked Henry.

"Well, yeah. School doesn't exactly compare to fighting against something like the D-Reaper."

Both Henry and Jeri's faces fell, looking away from Takato as they remembered what they had to go through that day. Realizing what he said, Takato attempted to change the subject.

"Sorry about that. I didn't realize that it was still a bit of a touchy subject. Anyway, how did your day go, Henry?"

Unfortunately, rather than answer his question, Henry asked something that caught Takato off guard.

"Hey Takato, do you ever think about Guilmon sometimes?"

Takato nervously scratched the back of his neck, not sure how he should answer the question. Although he did understand why they had to go back to the Digital World, he still missed his friend quite a lot.

Even though he would never publicly admit it, every time Takato was in his room, he would pull his old D-Power out of his drawer and spend some time staring at it, hoping that something would happen. Unfortunately, it remained blank to this day.

"Uh…well, yeah. I mean, why wouldn't I, especially with all of the stuff that we went through?"

Takato looked at Henry, hoping that his expression didn't lead to Henry asking more questions than he wanted to answer. Thankfully, though, he appeared to be satisfied, and Takato took the opportunity to ask the question himself.

"How about you?"

Henry paused for a second before answering.

"Sometimes. Although I imagine Suzie must have taken it a bit harder than I did."

With Henry having given his answer, Takato was about to turn to ask Jeri when he suddenly realized that with what happened with Jeri's partner, she might not be taking this conversation too well.

But as Takato nervously met his eyes with Jeri, he found that she wasn't depressed at all. She was actually still in a pretty positive mood. Takato didn't even have to ask her the question, as she immediately went into her answer.

"Whenever I'm feeling down, I think about what Leomon said to me."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, though? Doesn't it just remind you of what happened?" asked Takato.

Both Takato and Henry looked at Jeri, nervous that being reminded of Leomon's death would just lead her down a dark path. However, what she said next made them realize how ridiculous that sounded.

"Yeah, I do. It does hurt sometimes, but I know that he wanted me to be strong, no matter what happens in life. That helps quite a lot."

"It's good to see you're putting all that past you, Jeri. We were getting worried about you when that was happening."

Jeri smiled.

"Thanks for sticking with me, you guys."

Henry and Takato smiled back, but just as they were about to change the subject and talk about something else, Takato noticed Rika walking up towards them.

"Hey Rika. What's up?"

"Nothing. I just figured I'd join you guys since Ryo's not exactly being very open at the moment."

Takato looked over at Ryo, who was still in the same place that he remembered seeing him last, still staring into space. Takato gave him a weird look before returning his focus to the group in front of him.

However, before they could continue talking, Henry suddenly got up.

"I'd better head over there so I can keep an eye on Suzie. I'm pretty sure Kenta and Kazu are too busy with their game to bother."

Without waiting for an answer, Henry walked over to where Ryo was sitting, standing on his toes as he looked into the structure.

"You doing alright in there, Suzie?"

"I'm fine, Henwy." said Suzie as she turned around to face her big brother.

"Alright. I'll be right outside if you need me. Hopefully these two don't cause you any trouble." he said as he looked at Kazu and Kenta.

"Hey, I heard that!" said Kazu as he gave Henry an annoyed look.

However, Henry simply rolled his eyes before sitting down next to Ryo, giving him a look before deciding to strike up a conversation.

"You still in there, Ryo?"

When he didn't reply, Henry snapped his fingers in front of Ryo's face a couple times, finally snapping him out of it.

"Oh…hi, Henry. Sorry, I was a little out of it."

Ryo added a nervous chuckle, but Henry wasn't too worried about it.

"Well, as long as you're still with us, that's fine. Anyway, was there something on your mind?"

Ryo paused before answering.

"To be honest, yeah. After living in the Digital World for so long, it's kind of tough to get used to real life again. I'm not really sure if I'm cut out for this."

"Don't say that, Ryo! You'll get used to it. Sure, it's gonna take some time, but it'll be worth it in the end."

Ryo smiled.

"Thanks for the support."

Henry simply nodded, before he noticed that the street lamps were turning on.

"It's getting late. We should be getting home."

Ryo nodded, standing up and walking towards the other group. Henry, meanwhile, stuck his head back in the structure where Kazu, Kenta and Suzie were.

"Come on, you guys. It's getting late."

As Henry helped Suzie down from the structure, Kenta groaned.

"Awww…I was actually doing good for once!"

"Hey, I was just having an off game! That's not gonna happen again." said Kazu, giving Kenta a look.

Reluctantly, the two packed away their cards before they hopped out of the structure and headed towards everyone else just as they said their goodbyes and started to head home.

* * *

Takato finally made it back home just as the sun finally set to find his parents closing up the bakery for the night.

"Hi, mom! Hi, dad!"

Both Takehiro and Yoshie looked up from their work to find Takato standing in front of them with his bag slung around his shoulder, smiling.

"Hey, Takato. How did school go?"

"It was fine, dad. It actually went pretty well for once."

Takato was about to head upstairs to stow his bag in his room when his mother suddenly spoke up.

"Hey Takato, I'm sorry to have to send you out at this time of night, but would you mind doing us a huge favor?"

Takato looked at his mom curiously.

"Uh, what kind of favor?"

Rather than answer, Takehiro ducked behind the counter and pulled out a large basket full of bread.

"We just received an order not too long ago, and we just finished it when you came in. Would you mind taking it out to where it's supposed to go? The address isn't too far from here."

"Yeah, I'd do it myself, but we've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to make dinner yet." said Yoshie.

Takato didn't really expect to have a job to do so soon after getting home, but he knew he couldn't just refuse to do it.

"Okay, mom. Just give me a second to put my bag up in my room and I'll take care of it."

She nodded, and Takato ran up the stairs to his room, tossing his bag on his bed. However, he paused before heading back down the stairs, walking over to his drawer and pulling his D-Power out once again.

He continued to stare into the screen, trying to see if anything would happen, but of course the screen remained as blank as ever.

Sighing, he was about to put it back into the drawer when his mother's voice came from downstairs.

"Takato, what's taking you so long? The bread's getting cold!"

Takato started, not realizing how long he was taking. He immediately turned around and ran towards his door, absentmindedly slipping his D-Power into his pocket and heading out the door.

"Sorry, mom! I'm heading out right now!"

Takato quickly grabbed the basket and headed out the front door, completely unaware of the arrow that suddenly appeared on his D-Power.

* * *

Thankfully, Takato managed to deliver the basket of bread to the customer and collect his payment without any problems.

As he began making his way back home, his mind began to wander as he listened to the chatter of some of the people walking near him. However, as he listened, Takato began to hear a weird noise that was cutting through everything else. Confused, he looked around for the source.

Unfortunately, he found nothing that could have made that kind of noise in the area. Still confused, he was about to just ignore it and head home when he realized that there was vibrating coming from his pocket.

Reaching in, he found that he had his D-Power with him and he realized that he must have forgotten to put it back into the drawer. But when he caught a look at the screen, his eyes widened in surprise.

"What the…?"

There was a large arrow on the screen, pointing towards the direction he just came from.

As much as Takato wanted to follow the arrow and see where it would go, he knew that his parents would probably end up getting worried about him. He debated in his head for a few moments before deciding he was gonna be quick and hope that they wouldn't be too mad.

So, he began following the arrow, running through the city as it continually changed directions. Takato was already beginning to think that the D-Power was leading him on a wild goose chase.

"I shouldn't have done this. They're gonna be so mad." he said to himself, giving his D-Power a couple whacks with his hand.

After another few minutes of following the arrow, Takato found himself in front of a tunnel, unsure of whether he should try to go in or not. He sighed heavily, deciding that there must have been some reason he was led here.

"Here goes nothing."

Takato began making his way into the tunnel, but he didn't have to go far before a pair of yellow eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness.

Takato froze, thinking that he might have disturbed some kind of animal's nest. He began to slowly back out of the tunnel.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

He finally reached the end of the tunnel and stepped into the open air once more before realizing that the eyes were still there. He froze in place once more, hoping that it wouldn't attack him, when a voice he recognized almost immediately came from the tunnel.

"Takatomon?"

Takato's jaw nearly fell open.

"G-Guilmon?"


	2. Chapter 2

"G-Guilmon?"

Takato watched in amazement as the pair of eyes came out of the tunnel to reveal his partner, looking just like the last time he remembered seeing him. He reached out his hand to touch Guilmon's face, thinking that he was seeing things.

"Is it really you, boy?"

Guilmon paused, looking at Takato in confusion.

"I think I am. Am I?"

Unable to resist, Takato wrapped his arms around Guilmon, giving his partner a huge hug. The Digimon was initially surprised at the sudden display of affection, but he slowly wrapped his arms around Takato as well.

"I missed you so much. Do you know how hard it's been for me since you left?"

"I told you we would meet again someday."

Takato and Guilmon finally released each other, allowing Takato to take a look at Guilmon and size him up.

"Now, what are we gonna do about making sure no one sees you?" he said to himself.

He paused to think as Guilmon continued to stare at his partner, a wide-eyed look on the Digimon's face.

After a few seconds, Takato finally snapped his fingers, having gotten an idea.

"Aha! I've got it! We can use that little building you were in the last time. I remember passing by it a few times recently."

As Takato began walking with Guilmon following close behind, a thought ran through his mind.

"I hope it's still there."

* * *

Thankfully, the building was still intact, and when Takato finally reached it, he pulled open the gate and beckoned towards Guilmon. However, the Digimon looked like he wasn't too thrilled with the prospect of having to spend more time in there.

"Aww, do I have to?"

"I'm sorry, boy. I'd love to take you home, but I'm pretty sure my parents would probably freak out if they saw you pop out of nowhere after two months."

Guilmon's ears drooped, but he willingly went into the building and Takato closed the gate behind him.

"Don't worry, Guilmon. I'll make sure to come visit as soon as I can tomorrow. Okay?"

"You promise?"

Takato nodded, and Guilmon went into one of the darker areas of the building and lied down to go to sleep.

As Takato began making his way home, his heart filled with excitement as he thought about finally getting to spend some more time with Guilmon.

Eventually, though, he began to wonder if he was soon going to have to explain to his parents how Guilmon suddenly popped out of nowhere just when he was getting used to normal life.

He decided that he was just gonna figure it out when the moment comes.

Suddenly, his eyes went wide as he realized something.

"Oh no, my parents!"

Takato shot off like a rocket, running as fast as he could towards home.

"They're gonna kill me."

* * *

"Where have you been, Takato? It's been two hours!"

Takato's mother stared at him angrily as she waited for the explanation. As much as Takato wanted to tell her about Guilmon's return, he knew she would probably never believe him, so he was forced to come up with a quick excuse.

"Uh…I got lost along the way?"

"How could you get lost? The address I gave you wasn't even that far away."

"It's a big city, mom. A lot of the buildings tend to look the same when you don't pay attention."

Takato's mom continued to look at him for a few seconds, trying to figure out if he was lying. Luckily, Takato held his expression pretty well, and his mom sighed, finally calming down.

"At least you made it back home safely. Just… please don't make us worry like that again, Takato."

"I'm sorry, mom."

His mom lightly ruffled his hair before heading towards the kitchen.

"Your dad and I already had dinner, but we've saved a plate for you on the table."

"Thanks, mom."

Takato made his way over to the table and sat down to eat his dinner. It was unfortunately a little cold, but Takato didn't complain, knowing that it was his fault for getting sidetracked while he was out.

After finally finishing his dinner, Takato picked up his plate and washed it off, sticking it in the sink before heading towards the stairs. As his foot hit the bottom step, he quickly turned his head towards his mother, who was cleaning up the kitchen.

"I'll be up in my room if you need me!"

"Don't stay up too late, Takato. You've got school tomorrow."

"Okay!"

Takato bounded up the steps and into his room, shutting his door behind him. He pulled his D-Power out of his pocket as he jumped on to his bed, lifting it in front of his face as he stared at the ceiling.

However, as his mind began to wander once more, one thought came to the forefront of his mind.

"Why did Guilmon come back?"

As much as he wanted to believe that it was to fulfill the promise that the two of them made two months ago, he was aware of the fact that Guilmon probably didn't have a whole lot of control with being able to travel between the real world and the Digital World.

He decided that it was probably a good idea to ask Guilmon about it tomorrow and see if his partner would know anything. So, after a few more minutes of reminiscing, Takato decided to head to bed, actually looking forward to the morning for once.

* * *

The next day came, and Takato went through his normal morning routine, just like it was any other day. However, Takato knew that it wasn't just any normal day.

The school day was mostly uneventful outside of an instance where Kazu and Kenta's quiet chatter led to a talking to from Ms. Asaji. Thankfully for them, it was only a warning, so they were able to leave school with everyone else.

After school was a different story, though. While Takato was making his way out of the building to head towards the park and see Guilmon, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Intrigued, he pulled it out and hit the answer button, placing it up to his ear.

"Hello? This is Takato."

"Takato? It's Henry. Do you think that you can meet us at the park by Guilmon's old house?"

"Uh…yeah, sure. I'll be there."

Takato hung up his phone and placed it back into his pocket, heading towards the park as he wondered what was so urgent that Henry needed to call so soon.

* * *

Although Takato had a feeling in the back of his mind, he was still surprised to see all of the Tamers there (except for Jeri, who said she was unable to make it, but everyone knew better), as well as Terriermon, Renamon, Calumon, Impmon, MarineAngemon, Guardromon, Cyberdramon and Lopmon there with them.

"Well, um…hello everyone." he said, caught off guard by the large group in front of him.

All of the Digimon greeted Takato, who smiled.

"Wow, you guys haven't changed a bit."

"Say, where's Guilmon? Shouldn't he probably be here too?" said Terriermon as he looked around the area.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot."

Takato went over and unlocked the gate to Guilmon's house, finally letting the virus Digimon roam free. However, the first thing Guilmon did was run over to the rest of the group and greet all of the Digimon, an extremely happy look on his face.

Takato ended up having to pull Guilmon away from the rest of the Digimon so that they could officially get the meeting started. Henry stepped forward, deciding to start things off.

"While I'm sure that everyone's happy to see their Digimon again, including me, there's one question that's been really bugging me. Why did our Digimon suddenly appear again? I remember my dad saying that they had to go back to restore balance between our two worlds. So why are they back?"

The group fell silent, nobody knowing what to say. Finally, Kenta spoke up, turning to face the group and pointing towards the Digimon.

"Why don't we ask them? They might know something about what happened."

Rika shrugged before turning towards Renamon.

"Do you know remember anything before you guys showed up here, Renamon?"

The fox Digimon paused to think.

"I'm sorry, Rika. The last thing I remember was entering the gateway between our worlds. Everything between then and when you found me is a blur."

Henry stepped forward once more.

"Wait Renamon, did you just say that you entered a gateway between our worlds?"

Renamon looked at Henry quizzically.

"Yes, I did. Is there something wrong?"

Before Henry could answer, Takato suddenly spoke up, turning towards the rest of the Digimon.

"Did the same thing that happened to Renamon happen to you guys as well?"

Everyone nodded, and Takato clutched at his head.

"Agh! This doesn't make any sense!"

"Calm down, Takato! We're not gonna be able to figure this out if you get worked up like this." said Henry.

Takato finally managed to calm down after a few seconds, and Henry took it as a sign to continue on.

"Do any of you remember what happened before you went through that gate?"

He looked around at all of the Digimon to see if anyone would know, only to see Lopmon step forward.

"I actually do remember something. I ended up accidentally getting caught in a data stream, and it dropped me off at this weird place where there was nothing around except this massive gate. I had no idea where I was, so I couldn't really just leave."

"So you went through it?" asked Terriermon.

Lopmon nodded, and Terriermon's mouth opened in surprise.

"Wow, that's really strange. That sounds almost exactly like how I got here."

"That happened to me as well. Maybe there might be some kind of connection between our methods of coming into the real world." said Guardromon.

"Guardromon's right. The only problem, though, is what that connection is." said Kazu, popping out from behind his partner.

"Well, there's not much we can really do to figure it out now. Let's just be glad that we have this chance to see our Digimon again." said Rika.

"I'm with Rika. Let's enjoy our time with them the best we can." said Kenta.

Takato looked over at Henry and saw that he still had a look on his face like the reasoning behind the sudden appearance of the Digimon was still bothering him. A few seconds later, though, he shrugged, looking over at Terriermon.

"You ready to go do something, Terriermon?"

"Am I ever!" said the bunny Digimon, quickly walking over to Henry and climbing up on to his shoulder.

"Come on, Suzie. Let's go."

Henry reached his hand out towards Suzie, who quickly grabbed Lopmon before grabbing Henry's hand.

As the rest of the Tamers went with their Digimon in different directions, Takato walked over towards Guilmon, who looked at him curiously.

"So what do you want to do today, Guilmon?"

The Digimon paused for a second before suddenly perking up.

"Ooh, can we go over to that playground I saw last night?"

Takato was initially hesitant, knowing that there were probably going to be other kids there at this time of day, but then he remembered that they weren't even scared of Growlmon, so he figured that Guilmon would be even less of a risk.

"Alright, boy. Let's go have some fun."

Guilmon cheered, and the two of them headed off towards the playground, ready to finally have some fun and not worry about anything else for once.


	3. Chapter 3

Once Takato and Guilmon reached the playground, Guilmon immediately went for the slide, while Takato decided to hang back and watch. As much as he wanted to join him, he knew that he was a little too old to be on any of the smaller things.

So, Takato decided to walk over to the swing set and hopped on to one of the seats, lightly pushing himself back and forth as he looked at Guilmon rushing around the playground in an attempt to try everything.

Takato couldn't help but smile at the look of joy on the Digimon's face, but his thoughts soon began to drift back to the meeting not too long ago, more specifically how and why the Digimon came back despite the lack of a portal to the Digital World anywhere in the city.

As Takato thought back to when he and Guilmon reunited the previous night, he realized that the way that the two of them met was eerily similar to how they met the first time, outside of the fact that he already had his Digivice.

"There must be some reason. But what?" he said to himself as he looked upwards.

Takato was lost in thought for a few minutes as he tried to figure out the answer. Unfortunately, none of his ideas seemed to fit together, so he sighed and looked forwards again, only to be met with a giant red snout in his face.

Caught off guard, Takato yelped and fell off of the swing, landing hard on his back. As he picked himself up again, he gave an annoyed look to Guilmon before speaking up.

"Guilmon, don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

The Digimon's face fell for a moment.

"Sorry, Takatomon."

Takato softly groaned as he realized that Guilmon started adding –mon to his name again.

"We're gonna have to work on getting that out of you, boy."

Guilmon just looked at Takato curiously.

"Getting what out?"

Takato considered explaining himself for a moment before sighing and deciding that it was just going to go away on its own like last time.

"Never mind."

It was then that Takato noticed the darkening sky, and he groaned once again as he realized that he needed to get home so his parents wouldn't actually kill him for being late again.

"Looks like it's getting late. Sorry Guilmon, it looks like playtime's over for today."

Takato paused for a second before noticing the expression on the Digimon's face and realizing that he needed some way to cheer his friend up.

"Don't worry, boy. There's always tomorrow. Maybe we can even spend some time with some of the others! I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Well…maybe not Rika so much."

Guilmon paused for a moment before suddenly asking a question that he seemed like he really needed to ask.

"When can I go see your parents?"

Takato froze, not expecting that kind of question from Guilmon. He paused for a second, unsure of whether he should bring him home, before he realized that Henry and Suzie would probably have taken Terriermon and Lopmon home with them, and their dad would have probably found out pretty quickly about their return.

"Tomorrow, I promise. I'd love to take you home tonight, but I just want to play it safe just in case word hasn't traveled from someone like Henry's dad."

Although Guilmon was slightly disappointed at having to spend another night in the old building, he nodded and began following Takato as the two of them made their way back.

* * *

After locking Guilmon into his house to spend the night, Takato began making his way home, eventually reaching the bakery just as the street lights turned on.

Unfortunately for him, he had to rush home, so when he finally made it inside, he had to bend over so that he could catch his breath.

"Whoa, where's the fire, Takato? You look like you were running for a while." said Takehiro as he stood up from behind the counter.

"Sorry, dad. I was just running a little late, so I had to rush home."

Takato's mom suddenly popped in from the kitchen, having heard Takato come home.

"Well, you're just in time, Takato. I was just about to finish cooking dinner."

"Great. Let me just drop my things in my room, and I'll be right down."

Yoshie nodded, and Takato bounded up the stairs, dropping his bag on to his bed before heading back downstairs and sitting down at the table just as his mom placed the food down on it.

As Takato's dad sat down at the table with them, he finally got a chance to take a look at what his wife cooked.

"This looks wonderful, honey!" he said.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just figured we could use a bit of a break from the big prepared meals, so I cooked up some ramen for us. Simple, but effective, you know?"

Rather than waiting for an answer, Takato's mom sat down and the three of them began to eat.

Although there were a few snatches of conversation between Takato's parents, most of dinner time was spent in silence as the three of them focused on eating. However, Takato's focus wasn't entirely on the food in front of him, as he couldn't help but look at his parents, wondering just what kind of reaction he was going to get when he brought Guilmon home tomorrow.

* * *

Inside the Wong's apartment, Henry and Suzie were busy watching television as they waited for their parents to get home from work. Lopmon was in Suzie's lap, while Terriermon was sitting next to Henry. As the two Digimon tried to make sense of what was going on with the show they were watching, Henry took a look at the clock.

"Man, they're running late. I wonder what's keeping them."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that, Henry. They'll be home soon. I'm sure something big must have come up that held them up."

"I know, Terriermon. You'd think they would have called though." said Henry as he looked down at his partner Digimon, worried.

Unable to think of anything else to say to Henry to calm his fears, Terriermon caught Lopmon's attention and tried to get her to say something to him, but Lopmon shook her head, causing Terriermon to sigh and give up. The bunny Digimon figured that once Janyu and Mayumi got home, things would finally get better.

Unfortunately, that wasn't really the case, as the four of them heard the door open, and Henry suddenly realized that he wasn't sure if his dad knew anything about their Digimon suddenly reappearing. As much as he wanted to try and make an attempt to pass Terriermon and Lopmon off as dolls like they did last time, he knew that he didn't have time to pass the message on to the two Digimon, so he decided to stand his ground and hope for the best.

However, when Henry's father turned around the corner and noticed the presence of the two Digimon, he was only surprised for a few seconds before he adopted a nonplussed expression.

"Hey kids, sorry we're late. How was school?"

"It was fine, dad. What took you guys so long?" asked Henry.

Instead of immediately answering, Janyu glanced at his wife and considered whether she should be here for what he was about to say. However, before he could speak to her, Mayumi suddenly cleared her throat before speaking up.

"I'm not sure about your father, but I just got held up at work. There's a special project going on and they needed all of us there."

Although Henry was admittedly curious about what this project was about, he knew he probably wasn't going to get any answers out of his mom, so he decided to let it go.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go take a nap before dinner. It's been a long day for me."

Henry's mom started walking towards their bedroom, closing the door behind her as they heard the bed inside creak. This gave Janyu the opportunity he needed to tell the kids what he was really up to. He paused for a second, looking at the two Digimon attempting to pose as dolls before speaking up.

"I see you got some new dolls. How are they working out for you two?"

Henry was noticeably surprised, as despite the fact that he noticed his dad's expression when he came into the room, so he figured that he must have already known. However, now that he thought about it, it must have been because they reminded him of what happened back then.

Henry turned towards his dad, about to explain that the Digimon were in fact real and back with them when Janyu suddenly kneeled down in front of them, waving to the two Digimon and smiling. Caught off guard, it took Henry a few seconds to figure out what to say next.

"H-how did you know?"

Janyu cleared his throat before answering.

"Well, I had my suspicions when you two brought them home last night, but I received a call from our good friend Yamaki today. I had to go over to Hypnos myself just to see if it was true. That was why I was running late."

As much as Henry was relieved to not have to deal with explaining the Digimon's reappearance to his father, he realized that something really must be going on if even Yamaki was aware of them as well.

"Hey dad, did you and Yamaki happen to see anything…odd while you were at Hypnos?"

"No, why?" asked Janyu, slightly confused.

"Never mind, dad. I was just curious."

Although Janyu was a little put off by the way Henry brushed off his question, he figured that the kids deserved to at least know what was going on, especially after what they had to go through with the D-Reaper. Now that the Digimon were back after two months, though, things became much more complicated for him.

Before Janyu could sit down and unwind with the kids and Digimon, the phone suddenly rang. He considered whether or not to just sit down and let it ring, but when Henry made a move to go for it, he decided it was probably best just to get it over with.

"It might be something important." he thought to himself before turning to his son.

"I'll get it, Henry. I'm already standing, so I might as well."

Although Henry gave his dad a curious look at the stilted way he said that last sentence, he shrugged and sat back down.

After a few seconds, Janyu made his way over to the phone and picked it up just before it stopped ringing.

"Hello?"

"Janyu, it's Yamaki. We have a problem."

Janyu looked confused, wondering what Yamaki was going on about.

"What do you mean by problem? Everything seemed okay while I was there."

"It's about the Digital World. Someone…o-or something's opened up a bridge between our worlds!"


	4. Chapter 4

"What?"

Janyu didn't know what to think when confronted with the fact that the opening between the real world and the Digital World was opened so soon after it was closed by the kids and their Digimon.

"I don't understand. How can someone just rip a hole between our worlds like it was nothing?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Janyu. We're working on trying to figure out what happened on our end." said Yamaki from the other end.

Janyu didn't answer back immediately, as he tried to process the fact that they were going to have to go into battle just two months after they managed to finish it the first time. He quickly glanced over in the direction of the living room, where he assumed that Henry and Suzie still were, and he wondered what they would think about this kind of predicament.

"What about the kids' Digimon? Do they have something to do with the hole reopening?"

"It's a possibility, but like I said, we're looking into it. Now, I need you to listen to me, Janyu. This is important."

Janyu remained quiet as Yamaki began explaining his plan.

"While we haven't had any readings as of yet, this doesn't mean that Digimon aren't going to start showing up pretty soon. We may need to bring the kids in if things start to get messy."

"But we can't just tell the kids that they're gonna have to start fighting again! They only just reunited with them a couple of days ago!"

"I know, Janyu, but this is our only real option! I can't rebuild Juggernaut now that the government's breathing down my neck, so that means their Digimon are our only hope of keeping them out of the real world while we figure out how to close the breach."

Once again, Janyu didn't answer, choosing instead to look down the corridor to the living room again for a moment before returning his focus to the phone call.

"How am I going to tell them that they're gonna have to put their lives in danger again after just two months?"

The line was silent for a moment, as Janyu assumed that Yamaki must be thinking about what he should say next.

"Just let them have their fun for now. Tell them when you think the time is right, but don't take too long. We need them ready once Digimon start to bio-emerge."

Janyu sighed, thinking that things were going to become a whole lot more difficult now. Before he could reply, though, he heard another voice coming from the other end of the line, presumably one of the people that he saw working in those chairs while he was visiting Hypnos.

"Look, I have to go. I'll let you know if something comes up, alright?"

Janyu gave a noncommittal grunt, and line went dead. After hanging up the phone, Janyu turned around and lightly banged his head against the wall a couple of times, stopping short of actually punching the wall. Despite the anger he was feeling for being forced to put Henry, Suzie and all of the other kids in danger, he knew that there was nothing he could do to change that fact.

Sighing, he stood up and after checking to make sure he didn't cause any damage to himself or the wall, he went into the living room and sat down on the chair near where Henry, Suzie, Terriermon and Lopmon were.

Henry looked over and noticed the worn-out look on his dad's face. Concerned, he decided to ask him about what was going on.

"Everything okay, dad? You look like you've got something on your mind."

Janyu considered for a moment about whether or not to tell the two of them about the breach, but he didn't want to put Yamaki in a tough spot, so he decided just to make an excuse.

"Oh, it's nothing, really. I was just on the phone with one of my coworkers. This project we're working on is going slower than expected."

Henry and Terriermon traded looks, both seeing through Janyu's attempt at an excuse. The two of them managed to catch a few of the words from the conversation. Despite not being able to figure out what the phone call was about, Henry knew it had nothing to do with his dad's actual job.

Still, not wanting to cause a scene, Henry decided to let it go just as his mom popped out of her room and headed towards the kitchen.

Quickly checking the time, Janyu suddenly realized it was getting very late.

"I didn't realize how much time has passed. It's almost bedtime for you two."

"But we haven't even had dinner yet. We were waiting for you two to get home for the past hour." said Henry.

Janyu paused, realizing that with everything going through his mind, he completely forgot about dinner.

"Sorry Henry, we'll see if we can find something quick for you and Suzie."

Janyu got out of his chair and headed over to the kitchen to find his wife searching through the cupboards.

"Hey Mayumi, do you happen to remember getting anything that we can give to the kids that they can have before bedtime? It's getting kind of late."

Mayumi didn't answer immediately, staring into space for a second before finally getting an idea and then immediately regretting said idea. Turning towards the fridge, she opened it and pulled out a tray of sushi, setting it on the table in front of her.

"I was originally going to save it for one of our date nights, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with grabbing another plate another time."

Janyu warmly smiled at his wife putting the kids ahead of their alone time before calling the two of them over to eat.

Once Henry and Suzie sat down and the four of them began eating, the room was mostly silent except for one thing Henry felt that he needed to say.

"Thanks for the sushi, mom and dad."

"Oh, it's nothing, Henry." said Mayumi before they returned to eating.

Once dinner was completely finished, Henry and Suzie grabbed Terriermon and Lopmon before getting ready for bed. After saying their goodnights and closing their doors behind them, Mayumi and Janyu watched TV for a little while before deciding to go to bed themselves.

However, while Mayumi was able to go to sleep without any issues, Janyu's mind was still swimming, as he wondered just how he was going to explain to the kids that they were going back into battle so soon.

* * *

Back at the Matsuki residence, Takato was just about ready to head out and spend some more time with Guilmon. Since there was no school today, he was very excited to be able to spend the whole day with his best friend.

After quickly checking his pockets and finding his D-Power safely tucked inside, he opened the screen door, quickly looking behind him to where his mother was busy working.

"Bye, mom! I'm heading out to the park!" he yelled.

"Don't stay out too late, Takato!"

"Okay!"

After exiting the bakery and shutting the door behind him, Takato headed towards the park as promised. As he made his way over there, his mind began to wander as he thought about what kind of things they would be able to do today.

However, in his distracted state, he ended up bumping into someone.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

Takato was about to apologize before he suddenly realized that he recognized that voice. Bringing himself back down to Earth, he looked in front of him to realize that he ended up bumping into Rika, who gave him an annoyed look.

"Oh, uh…sorry about that, Rika. I guess I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going." he said as he nervously laughed.

Rika was initially caught off guard by the sudden contact with Takato, when she finally noticed who was in front of her she adopted a frown on her face.

"What a surprise. Takato, you really need to keep your head out of the clouds sometimes! All this daydreaming is going to get you in trouble one of these days."

Not wanting to cause a scene, Takato held his hands up in front of him as he attempted to placate Rika.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you."

Although Takato noticed that the expression on Rika's face didn't change, the fact that she didn't say anything led Takato to believe that at least something good happened out of that exchange.

"So, uh…where are you headed off to, Rika?" asked Takato.

"None of your business."

Although Takato was slightly put off by Rika's tone, he figured that it was better not to pry when she didn't want to talk about it.

"Do you want to come to the park with me to visit Guilmon?" asked Takato as Rika pushed her way past him.

As Rika continued to walk off, she spoke up while her back was still turned away from Takato.

"No thanks. I've got some important business to deal with."

Although Takato was curious about what kind of important business Rika was up to, he shrugged and began making his way over to the park. However, before he could get too far, Renamon suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of him, startling Takato.

"Don't do that, Renamon! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Apologies, Takato. Rika hasn't been in a good mood lately since her mother got back from her trip to Paris." said Renamon.

"Really? What happened?" asked Takato, once again curious.

"I'd rather not say without Rika being okay with it."

Takato sighed after once again being shot down in his attempt at getting information. Before he could say anything else, he heard Rika calling out from where she was standing.

"Renamon, come on! We're gonna be late getting back home!"

Renamon quickly bowed towards Takato before once again disappearing. As for Takato, he decided just to leave the two of them alone, and he began heading towards the park.

* * *

After finally reaching Guilmon's house, Takato opened the gate and was immediately tackled by the excited virus Digimon.

"You're back! You're back!"

Takato smiled before lightly pulling Guilmon's arms off of him. When he was finally free, he stood up and brushed himself off before giving Guilmon a hug of his own.

"I said I would be back, didn't I? Now, what do you think we should do today?"

However, instead of giving Takato his answer, Guilmon suddenly went feral. His eyes turned into slits, and he began to growl loudly.

Although Takato knew full well the reasoning behind his sudden change of demeanor, he decided that he really should get the answer straight from Guilmon.

"What's wrong, boy? Do you smell something?"

Guilmon didn't answer immediately, as he looked off towards the right side of the path they were currently on.

"I smell a Digimon!"


	5. Chapter 5

As Guilmon continued to growl and stare off into the distance, Takato looked at his partner, confused.

"Uh, are you sure you're not smelling any of the others, boy? I don't mean to doubt your senses, but I seem to remember us closing the portal back then."

However, instead of answering, Guilmon ran off in the direction that he was looking. Caught off guard, Takato had to run to catch up to him.

As Takato continued to follow behind Guilmon, one thought was running through his head.

"It's gotta be one of the others, isn't it? I don't think any of the Digimon from the other end would just be able to open up a portal just like that? Can they?"

Takato did have to admit to himself that this does go back to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the reappearance of Guilmon and the others. Still, he knew it wasn't the best time to be asking questions, so he simply focused on following his partner.

Eventually, Guilmon came to a stop, and once Takato caught up to him, his jaw dropped in surprise.

"Woah…"

There was a digital field covering the street in front of him. At first, Takato's mind was trying to process how a digital field appeared again after their battle with Vikaralamon a few months ago. As he took in the field, though, he began to realize that it was much larger than a normal digital field, and that began to worry him.

Sighing, he turned towards Guilmon, knowing that they needed to get rid of this Digimon first before they worried about anything else.

"Ready to go, boy?"

Guilmon simply nodded and grunted in the affirmative. Once Takato pulled his goggles down over his eyes, the two of them headed into the field.

* * *

Once they were inside and Takato got a chance to look around, it brought back memories of the first time that he and Guilmon fought a Digimon, which coincidentally turned out to be Renamon. Of course, that one didn't go as well, but the two of them have gained mountains of experience since then, so he knew that they had a much better chance now.

After searching for a little bit, Takato finally found the Digimon contained within the field, who at first didn't notice the two of them, as it was busy trying to break out of the field.

Not wanting to give the Digimon a chance, Takato quickly pulled out his D-Power and scanned it.

"Huh, a Goblimon. Kind of surprised a Digimon like that would have a field this big."

Guilmon was admittedly a little curious as well, but he stamped it down and remained ready to go.

"Go get 'em, Guilmon!"

Guilmon rushed off towards the Goblimon, who finally turned around and jumped as he noticed the virus Digimon rampaging right towards him. Desperately looking for an escape, the Goblimon decided just to attack and hope it works out.

"Goblin Strike!"

The Goblimon threw fire at Guilmon, but even though it did cause a little burn, it didn't even stop Guilmon, who jumped into the air as a ball of fire appeared in front of his jaws.

"Pyro Sphere!"

Guilmon fired the ball towards the Goblimon, who barely managed to get out of the way. Guilmon continued to fire a few more Pyro Spheres, but for some reason the Goblimon kept narrowly dodging it.

All of this constant running was starting to wear on Takato's nerves, so he knew that he had to do something to help Guilmon out. He reached into his pocket, intending to pull out one of his cards and use them, but his hand only closed on air.

"Oh no! I left my deck at home!" he said to himself.

As he mentally kicked himself for being that stupid, his hand suddenly closed on something rectangular. Pulling it out of his pocket, he finally got a look at what it was, and he nearly kissed it as he realized that he had the Speed card in his hand, which was just what he needed.

Not wasting any time, he slid the card through his D-Power.

"Digi-modify! Speed activate!"

The Goblimon was about to fire another Goblin Strike, but the Speed card activated just in time, and Guilmon managed to dodge out of the way just in time.

As Guilmon shot around the area, the Goblimon desperately kept trying to hit him, even including a few Goburi Bombs as well, but with the Speed card active, he was unable to hit him with anything.

Finally, after a few more seconds of running, Guilmon knew he had an opportunity to finish him off, so after coming to a stop, Guilmon immediately jumped into the air and aimed towards the Goblimon.

"Rock Breaker!"

Guilmon reached out with his claws and swiped, successfully cleaving through the Goblimon and destroying it. After Guilmon absorbed the Digimon's data, the digital field dispersed, and outside of some burn marks in the ground and some damage to cars that Guilmon jumped on during his run, it looked like nothing even happened.

"Nice job, Guilmon!" Takato yelled as he rushed over to where Guilmon was, dropping down to his knees and giving the Digimon a hug.

After the two of them separated, Guilmon spoke up with a smile on his face.

"That one was actually pretty easy."

While Takato definitely agreed with Guilmon's sentiment, he was admittedly curious about the reasoning behind the Goblimon's appearance.

"I wonder how that Digimon managed to get through the gate to our world. It just seems weird that it would reopen so soon after we closed it."

"Maybe he might've slipped through a crack?"

Although Takato was a little surprised to see Guilmon attempting to throw out opinions on these kinds of questions, he smiled and ruffled at the Digimon's head for a moment.

"Come on, Guilmon, let's head back to my house."

Guilmon looked curiously at Takato for a moment before remembering what their original plan was for today.

"Oh! Are you going to show me to your parents?"

"Well…yes, but we do have some time before dinner. I was just going to stop there so I can grab my cards. Frankly, I was lucky that I still had my speed card in my pocket. Otherwise, things might have been a little more difficult."

Although Guilmon was a little taken aback at Takato's admission, he eagerly nodded, and they began heading back towards Takato's house.

However, before they could get far, Takato suddenly noticed Henry running up towards them with Terriermon in tow on Henry's shoulder.

"Hey, Henry. What's up?" asked Takato as he watched Henry catch his breath.

"I came over here as fast as I could when I saw the digital field. Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine. Guilmon and I took care of it."

"Really?"

Henry looked curiously at Takato, who nodded.

As Henry took a look around the area, he suddenly realized that the digital field was gone. Whistling, he turned back towards Takato with a smile on his face.

"Wow Takato, I'm impressed. You handled that all on your own?"

Although Takato was slightly put off by Henry's tone, he decided to ignore it and reply to his question.

"Well, it was just a Goblimon. Nothing really all that challenging. Although I was surprised that the digital field was as big as it was."

Henry paused as he thought about what Takato said.

"That's strange. Now why would a low-level Digimon like Goblimon bio-emerge in a digital field that big?"

Takato shrugged while Guilmon looked on from off to the side.

While Takato and Henry continued to ponder the meaning behind recent events, Terriermon suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, Henry!"

Henry sighed, slightly annoyed that he got pulled out of his thoughts by his partner. He did eventually turn toward Terriermon and ask what was going on.

"What is it, Terriermon?"

"You do realize that your phone's ringing, right?"

Henry took a few seconds to process what Terriermon was saying before he suddenly realized that his phone was indeed ringing. After quickly pulling it out of his pocket, he managed to flip it open and hit the answer button just in time.

"Hello?"

"Henry? It's your father."

"Oh, hi dad. What's up?"

Janyu didn't answer immediately, as he was still unsure of how to explain the newly reopened gate between the two worlds. He eventually decided that it was best to go ahead and do it, not wanting to make things worse.

"Listen Henry, there's something I wanted to tell you."

"Yeah? What is it?"

After sighing, Janyu launched into his explanation.

"You remember that call I had last night? Well, it wasn't actually what I said it was."

Henry mentally rolled his eyes, quite aware of that fact considering he saw right through it.

"It turns out that call was from Yamaki. He found out recently that a hole has been reopened between our world and the Digital World. There's no telling when Digimon will start to come through, so I wanted to let you know so that you and the rest of your friends can be prepared."

Henry paused for a second before replying.

"Uh, thanks for the warning, dad, but I already know."

Janyu was completely caught off guard, not expecting Henry to already know about it.

"What? How?"

"Uh…it turns out that Takato and I ran into a digital field not too long ago. Well…technically Takato did. I got here after he took care of it."

Janyu sighed.

"Well, this has started much faster than I thought it would. Anyway, I would appreciate it if you and Takato would let the rest of your friends know about this. Yamaki's working on trying to get the breach closed, but we may need you and your Digimon in case some break through."

"Okay, dad. I was actually planning on meeting with everyone soon anyway."

After trading goodbyes, Henry hung up his phone and placed it back into his pocket.

"So, I'm guessing your dad must know about this?" asked Takato.

Henry nodded.

"Apparently something must have reopened a hole between our two worlds. Yamaki's trying to fix it, but they're gonna need us in case some Digimon break through."

Takato paused for a moment, nervously glancing over at Guilmon before speaking up again.

"Should we go and let everyone else know then?" he asked.

Henry was about to reply in the affirmative before he noticed the street lights turn on.

"It looks like it's getting late. We should probably get a meeting together tomorrow. That sound good to you?"

Takato nodded before he began heading off towards home, Guilmon following close behind him.

"I'll call you when we have a time when we can all meet, okay?" Henry yelled at the retreating form of Takato.

"Okay!"

As Takato and Guilmon headed towards his house, Takato couldn't help but feel a little nervous, as he wondered what kind of Digimon they were going to have to go up against next. He had a feeling that things were going to get much tougher in the long run before they can close the breach.


	6. Chapter 6

Takato and Guilmon managed to make it back home to the bakery not long after saying their goodbyes to Henry and Terriermon.

When they finally reached the door, Guilmon was about to make his way inside, only to notice Takato standing off to the side. Curious, he turned towards his partner.

"Something wrong, Takato?"

"What? Oh…no, Guilmon. I'm just a little nervous. I don't know what my parents are gonna think when they see you again."

"Well…if you don't think you're ready yet, we can always head back to the park."

"No, it's too late for that. If I take you back to the park, I'm only just gonna make myself even more late, and I promised my parents I wouldn't come home late again."

"Alright, Takato. I'll try and behave myself."

"Really? Thanks, boy. I really appreciate that."

Takato smiled at Guilmon before turning towards the door. After slowly breathing for a bit to calm himself down, Takato slid the door open and headed inside, with Guilmon following close behind.

* * *

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!"

Takato quickly looked around the room and saw that no one was around. Slightly confused, he wondered where they were for a minute before his mom suddenly called out.

"We're in the kitchen, Takato! I'm just about finished with dinner!"

Takato quickly glanced back, and noticed Guilmon suddenly begin to salivate. The Digimon nearly went ahead of Takato as he tried to go into the kitchen, but Takato was there to hold him back.

When Guilmon looked back at him in confusion, Takato signaled for Guilmon to remain quiet and stay here for now. Initially it looked like Guilmon didn't quite understand what the signals meant, but he thankfully nodded, and Takato sighed in relief.

"Just a second, Mom! I just need to get my shoes off!"

After doing what he said he would and taking his shoes off and placing them on the mat next to the front door, Takato turned towards Guilmon.

"I'm gonna come get you when we're ready, okay?" he whispered.

Guilmon nodded again, and Takato went to the kitchen, where both his mom and dad were as they prepared for dinner.

Takato, however, didn't immediately sit down at the table when he entered the room, which caused his mom to look at him curiously.

"What's the hold up, Takato? Go ahead and sit down. I'm just about done."

Takato paused, not sure how to start.

"Um…Mom? Dad? There's something that I need to show you."

Although Takato immediately wished that he didn't get as straight to the point as he did, he kept his mouth shut as his parents looked on curiously.

"What is it, Takato?" asked his dad, trying to get a peek around him to see what it was.

"Well…do you remember what happened two months ago?"

Both parents glanced at each other, clearly remembering what happened even though neither of them really wanted to.

"Alright, what's this about, Takato?" asked his mom as she turned the stove off.

Takato paused, unsure of how he was going to explain Guilmon. Eventually, he decided just to go ahead and show them.

"Give me one second." he said before rushing off.

His parents looked at each other in confusion, before their jaws dropped as they saw Takato return with Guilmon behind him.

"Aah! It's a monster!" yelled Takato's mom, as she was about to grab a broom and use it to defend herself.

However, Takato was there to defuse the situation.

"Calm down, Mom, there's nothing to worry about. It's just Guilmon."

'Hi!" said Guilmon, waving.

The room fell silent, as no one moved outside of Guilmon, who looked at the scene in front of him curiously. Thankfully, though, Takato's mom eventually released the broom and put it back where it was, before she sat down at the table, her head in her hands.

"Why did you have to bring him home again? I was almost looking forward to things finally getting back to normal."

Guilmon looked over at Takato, slightly hurt by what his mom said, but Takato moved to reassure him.

"Don't worry, boy. She just needs some time to get acquainted with you."

"Get acquainted? The last time you showed him to us, you were about to go into another world! What makes you think that I'd want to be friends, if he's just going to put you in danger again?"

Although Takato was well aware of the danger that he and the rest of his friends were going to be getting into, he knew he couldn't just out and tell her.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'm not going anywhere." he lied.

Takato began to worry if his lie would be enough to convince his mom, but thankfully his dad was there to change the subject.

"So, I'm curious. How did Guilmon come back? I remember your friend Henry's father telling us that he had to go back to his own world so that no one else could get through to our world, or something like that."

"Um…to be honest, I don't know. We've been trying to figure it out ourselves, but nothing's come up."

His father made a concerned noise, but he didn't say anything, leading Takato to think that the conversation was over.

"So, uh…can we go ahead and eat dinner now? I'm starving."

"Ooh, I am too!" said Guilmon as he walked over to the table. However, before he could make it, Takato moved to hold him back.

"Sorry, Guilmon. I think it might be best for you not to be at the dinner table yet. Maybe once they get used to you being here a little more."

Takato looked over and saw that his parents were indeed eyeing Guilmon like he was going to jump out and attack them, although it was more his mom than his dad.

Slightly disappointed, Guilmon turned towards Takato.

"But what can I eat?"

Takato thought for a moment before answering.

"How about you head up to my room until we're done? I'll make sure to bring you something."

Takato's mom made a move to argue, but his dad put a hand on her arm. When she looked over, she saw him lightly shaking his head.

"Just let him have this, Yoshie. He hasn't seen Guilmon in two months."

Takato's mom sighed.

"Alright, he can stay. If he makes a mess, though, you're cleaning it up. I don't care what it is."

"Alright, I promise, Mom." said Takato.

Satisfied, the Matsuki family finally began eating dinner as Guilmon headed upstairs. At first, he had a bit of trouble finding Takato's room, but he eventually managed to find it.

As he headed inside, he finally got a chance to take a look around the room.

"Wow, he's got a lot of stuff in here." he said to himself.

Curious, he took a closer look at some of the items that Takato had, being careful not to touch them since he still wanted to show Takato that he could behave himself.

Eventually, Guilmon's eyes landed on one of the drawers in Takato's desk. He had absolutely no idea what was in it, but for some reason his curiosity made him really want to see what was inside.

Walking over, he reached out one of his claws towards the knob, somehow managing to get it under so that he could pull it out. However, he ended up pulling it too hard, as the drawer came completely out of the desk.

Guilmon stared at the drawer in his hand, as well as the scattered contents on the floor before he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

"Oh no, what am I gonna do? Takato's gonna be so mad when he sees I broke this!"

Desperately, Guilmon tried putting the drawer back into the desk, hoping that it would just slide back in, but even if his claws weren't making it difficult to properly handle the drawer, the force of the drawer exiting the desk led to some of the wood splintering to the point where it probably would be noticeable no matter what Guilmon did.

Sighing in defeat, Guilmon dropped the drawer on to the floor, deciding it was probably best to just face the music and hope that Takato wouldn't take it too hard.

Guilmon sat down on the floor, not wanting to risk causing any more damage to Takato's room.

Eventually, Takato did come up to his room once dinner was finished to find Guilmon still sitting on the floor. Takato was admittedly surprised to see Guilmon still being so well behaved, but when he got a closer look, he noticed the depressed look on the Digimon's face.

"Guilmon? What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Takato! I didn't mean to do it!" said Guilmon, almost leaping into Takato's arms before stopping himself.

Confused, Takato wondered what Guilmon was talking about, before he finally noticed the scattered junk on the floor, as well as the drawer that they were originally in also on said floor.

While Takato was admittedly annoyed at the fact that it didn't take that long for Guilmon to break something, he knew that he couldn't stay mad at him. Kneeling down to Guilmon's level, he placed a hand on the Digimon's shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry, Guilmon. It was just an accident."

Guilmon sniffed before looking up at Takato.

"So…you're not mad?"

Takato slowly shook his head, a smile on his face.

"Nope. Besides, I've always had trouble opening that drawer anyway. It keeps sticking."

Although Guilmon didn't quite understand what Takato meant by 'sticking', he still smiled.

"Thanks, Takato."

Both Guilmon and Takato fell silent for a moment, neither really knowing what to say now that the drawer business was done. However, Takato did suddenly remember what he was planning to do originally.

Standing up, he looked down at his partner with a smile, while he was given a curious look in return.

"Hey Guilmon, I've got a surprise for you."

Guilmon continued to look at him curiously before Takato pulled out a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. The virus Digimon looked on in wonder before finally moving forward to grab it.

"Oh, thank you Takato! You're the best!"

With a smile still on his face, Takato helped Guilmon spread some of the peanut butter on the bread so that he would be able to get the best of both worlds at the same time.

Guilmon paused for a second before taking a bite out of the bread, his face lighting up as he took in the flavor.

"It tastes so good! Why haven't I tried these together yet?"

"I guess I must not have thought about trying that. Sorry about that, boy."

Guilmon soon finished his bread and reached out to grab the jar of peanut butter, but Takato grabbed it before he could get his hands on it.

"Awww…"

"Sorry, Guilmon. We gotta save some for the rest of us, you know."

Although Guilmon was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to try more of the peanut butter and bread combo, he nodded, showing that he understood.

"Okay, Takato."

After quickly running downstairs to return the jar of peanut butter to where he found it, he returned to find Guilmon already curled up on the floor, fast asleep.

Takato decided that he might as well get an early night in as well, so he shut the light in his room off, placing his goggles on his nightstand and quickly changing into some night clothes.

Once he finally hopped into his bed, he turned over to watch Guilmon sleep for a bit before finally deciding to go to sleep himself.

"Good night, Guilmon." he whispered before finally falling asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning came, and Guilmon woke up, ready for another day of fun. However, when he looked over to where Takato was, he saw that his partner was still fast asleep, his legs splayed out in random directions.

Guilmon stared at Takato for a few moments, wondering why he was still asleep. Eventually, though, he got tired of waiting, so he decided to go ahead and wake him up.

Leaning over Takato, Guilmon kept his voice down so he didn't end up surprising Takato like with what happened at the park.

"Takatoooo…wakey-wakey."

Takato didn't wake up, though, so Guilmon decided to take a different approach. Reaching out, he lightly poked Takato a few times with his claws, seeing if that would work.

It didn't, unfortunately, which forced Guilmon to resort to drastic measures. He lightly hopped into the air, somehow managing to land on the bed and not cause any damage.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Takato, as the momentum of Guilmon's landing on his bed ended up throwing him off as he landed in a heap on the floor. It did wake him up, though, even though he wasn't too happy about the method.

"Owww…"

"Oops. Sorry, Takato. I guess I must have been a little heavy." said Guilmon as he leaned over the edge of the bed frame.

"No, it's fine Guilmon. Just…shake me next time you try to wake me up, alright?"

Guilmon nodded before hopping off of Takato's bed.

As for Takato himself, he took a few moments to fully wake up before he finally got a look at his clock and realize what time it was.

"Oh no, I'm running late! School's in half an hour!"

Forced to rush, Takato only managed to get out the door with fifteen minutes to spare, failing to notice the look his mom gave Guilmon as the Digimon passed by.

Thankfully, though, he somehow managed to make it to school with a couple of minutes to spare, although this led to the issue of what to do with Guilmon while Takato was in class.

Takato quickly tried to think of a plan, but with the minimal amount of time he had, he was forced to improvise.

"Hey Guilmon, do you see that small playground over there?"

Guilmon looked over to where Takato was pointing and indeed spotted a small playground across the street.

"I see it."

"Good. Now, I can't exactly bring you inside without it leading to a lot of questions, especially from Ms. Asaji. What I want you to do is to stick around over there for now, at least until school's done. Alright?"

Guilmon nodded to show he understood. As he made his way over there, Takato realized he needed to say one more thing.

"Try not to cause a scene, okay boy?"

Unfortunately, Guilmon didn't answer, so Takato was left to hope that Guilmon heard him. As he quickly rushed up the stairs into the building, Takato glanced back for a moment, wondering if he made the right choice to leave him alone.

* * *

The school day was a bit rough for Takato, as he ended up being a few minutes late for class thanks to having to deal with Guilmon. So, after enduring a short lecture on being on time from Ms. Asaji, Takato was allowed to sit down.

Takato's mind also wasn't there, either, as his thoughts were on whether Guilmon was still safe within the boundaries of the playground. Thankfully, though, the classroom was on the opposite side of the building from where the playground was, so Takato wouldn't be spending all of his time looking out of a window.

Eventually, the school day finally ended, and Takato finally took the chance to escape, somehow managing to slip out of the classroom despite Ms. Asaji noticing how unfocused he was and wanting to talk to him about it.

"I guess I'll talk to him about it tomorrow." she said to herself, shrugging.

Takato was slowed down by the large number of kids who were on their way out of the building, but he did manage to get out himself in a reasonable amount of time.

Once he managed to get out on to the street and across to where the playground was, Takato quickly scanned the area, hoping that Guilmon was still there. He didn't dare call out the Digimon's name, though, as he knew that he was only going to get weird looks and questions from everyone around him.

Thankfully, though, Takato managed to spot Guilmon resting under a tree. Smiling, he walked over and sat down next to his partner just as Guilmon noticed him there.

"Hi, Takato! Is school over?"

Takato didn't answer immediately, as he sighed in content.

"Yeah, school's over."

The two of them decided to rest for a moment before Takato stood up, turning towards Guilmon.

"Ready to go, boy? I think Henry's gonna want to get that meeting started soon. We should probably get ahead of things and head over to the park."

Guilmon stood up and nodded before immediately heading off towards the park. Takato was caught off guard by Guilmon's eagerness, so he was forced to rush to catch up to him.

* * *

Eventually, the park finally came into view, and Guilmon and Takato came to a stop just as they reached the outskirts.

Before they could go any further, though, Takato's phone rang. Both him and Guilmon traded looks before Takato picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Takato!"

"Oh, hey Henry! What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I've got our meeting set up. We're gonna meet over at Guilmon's place in about ten minutes. How does that sound?"

"Yeah, that sounds fine, but Guilmon doesn't live there anymore."

Takato didn't hear an answer immediately, which made him assume that he must have caught Henry off guard.

"What do you mean by that? Did you kick him out or something?"

"What? No! He's just living at my house now. I showed him to my parents not long after I dealt with that one Digimon."

"I imagine they didn't take it too well?"

"You don't know the half of it. Anyway, Guilmon and I are already at the park, so we'll just meet you guys over there. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds great. See you then."

The line went dead, and Takato closed his phone before sticking it back in his pocket. Turning towards Guilmon, he gave his partner a smile before speaking.

"So Guilmon, it looks like we've got ten minutes to spare. Anything you want to do before then?"

Guilmon paused, looking around the area before turning back towards Takato.

"Can we just sit down for a little bit? I've already done a lot of playing while I was waiting for you at your school."

Although Takato was admittedly surprised to see the normally rambunctious Guilmon want to do something so calm, he readily agreed, and the two of them found a spot under a tree and sat down next to it as they enjoyed the free time they had.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Takato and Guilmon found themselves in front of Guilmon's old house. Every one of the Tamers were there (even Jeri), and they were all quite antsy to get the meeting started.

Thankfully, Henry stepped forwards, once again taking charge.

"Now that everyone's here, I think now's a good time to get started."

Henry paused, sighing before continuing on.

"I think we might have a problem on our hands. Digimon are starting to bio-emerge into our world again."

Instead of the surprise Henry was expecting, everyone was giving him a nonplussed look, including Rika, who stepped forwards.

"Are you sure you're not making stuff up? I know that you've been going on about why our Digimon have come back, but that's no reason to start thinking that you have to battle invisible Digimon."

"It's true, you guys! Come on, Takato, tell them about the Digimon you and Guilmon fought!" he said, turning towards Takato.

"Yeah, Henry's right. Guilmon and I saw the Digital Field, and we fought and beat the Digimon inside it."

"What kind of Digimon was it?" asked Kazu, giving Takato a disbelieving look.

"Um…a Goblimon. It wasn't very hard, to be honest."

Rika still didn't believe them, but before she could make a move to counter, she was stopped in her tracks by a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Renamon just as she began to speak.

"Rika, it's true. I sensed the presence of the Digimon last night."

Caught off guard, Rika stared at Renamon for a few seconds before she was able to speak.

"Well, then why didn't you tell me about it?"

"It was because I sensed Guilmon there as well. I knew he was more than capable of handling him, so I decided to leave them alone."

Although Rika wasn't entirely happy about being left in the dark about the presence of a Digimon, she could understand Renamon's reasoning. Choosing to remain silent, she turned to face the rest of the group, noticing the looks of surprise on everyone's face as they realized that Takato and Henry were telling the truth.

"So, what do we do?" asked Kenta, looking expectantly at Henry.

"All we can do is make sure the Digimon don't break out of their Digital Fields and destroy the city."

"Well, can't we do something about closing the gate between our worlds?" asked Jeri.

"Well, my Dad told me that Yamaki's working on a solution, but we all need to be on our guards."

The Tamers traded worried looks between each other before Jeri spoke up again.

"I hope that we don't have to give up our Digimon again to do it."

Everyone rounded on Jeri, not expecting her to say something like that, especially considering the fact that she no longer had her Digimon. However, Takato couldn't help but smile as he realized that Jeri had finally stopped living in the past, and was looking out for everyone.

"Yeah, me neither." said Henry.

Everyone else agreed as well. When the group fell silent for a moment, no one knowing what to say, Takato decided to take the initiative and speak up.

"If no one else has anything they wanted to say, I think we can call this meeting closed."

Takato looked around and saw no one stepping forward, so he nodded and took it as a sign that the meeting was now officially over.

"Come on, Guilmon, let's go."

Both Takato and Guilmon began walking away from the meeting as they headed towards the main area of the park. Once they reached the open air, though, Takato paused and looked into the sky, curious to see how things were inside the Digital World now that the breach was open.

He thought about it for a few moments before deciding to push that thought to the back of his mind, thinking that it was probably best to keep focused on the task in front of them. So as the two of them went back to the tree they were spending time under, Takato couldn't help but hope that there would be another solution to closing the breach that didn't involve them losing their Digimon again.


	8. Chapter 8

Not long after the meeting ended, Henry found himself inside the shopping district of Shinkjuku, surprisingly not with Terriermon, but with Lopmon. The two of them were supposed to be there to get some groceries for Henry's mom, but they were also on a secret mission as well.

Suzie's birthday was coming up, so while Henry would normally be all about getting a good present for her, this time he wanted to make it special due to the fact that he also wanted her to be able to share it with Lopmon as well.

Unfortunately, though, with Suzie in attendance at the meeting, he couldn't just bring him with her, so he had to find someone who would be willing to look after her for a little while.

* * *

He knew he had to think quickly before he lost track of everyone, so he decided that the best candidate would have to be Takato. Everyone else would only cause problems, especially with Rika's abrasive personality and Kazu and Kenta's penchant for pranks.

Anyway, once Henry made his decision, he turned towards his sister, who looked at him curiously, Lopmon on top of her head.

"Come on, Suzie, let's go."

Suzie nodded, and Henry grabbed her hand, leading her towards the direction where he saw Takato and Guilmon leaving.

Eventually, they managed to catch up to them, finding them resting under one of the trees inside the park.

Henry was admittedly surprised to see the normally rambunctious Takato doing something so relaxing, but then he realized that was probably his own way of spending time with Guilmon.

Henry glanced up towards Terriermon for a moment, happy that they were given this second chance, before finally lightly nudging Takato with his foot.

"Hey, Takato! You awake?"

Apparently Takato wasn't, because he immediately jumped when he felt Henry's foot make contact with his side. He nearly ended up banging his head into the tree he was leaning against, but thankfully he stopped himself just in time.

Although Takato was slightly annoyed at getting pulled out of his thoughts so roughly, he willingly looked up towards Henry as he spoke.

"Hey Henry. What's up?"

"Listen, Takato. Can we speak in private?"

Takato was unsure why Henry would need to speak in private, but when he saw that Suzie was with him, he assumed that she must be involved somehow.

"Sure."

Takato stood up and watched as Henry turned towards Suzie, kneeling down so that they were eye-to-eye.

"Hey Suzie? I need to borrow Lopmon for a couple of minutes. Is that alright with you?"

The look on Suzie's face showed Henry that she wasn't exactly willing to part with Lopmon so easily, so Henry knew that he had to sweeten the deal to get her to agree.

"Here…tell you what. You can have Terriermon for as long as I need to have Lopmon. Once I'm done with her, we'll switch back. Okay?"

Before Henry could find out what Suzie's answer was, his vision was suddenly blocked by Terriermon's huge ears. He was about to simply brush them out of his way, but they kept going down until his eyes met with Terriermon's, and the Digimon didn't look too happy.

"Do I really have to go with Suzie? I wanted to go with you to help pick out-"

Henry immediately panicked, slapping his hand over Terriermon's mouth so that Suzie wouldn't hear him finish that sentence. When Terriermon fell silent, Henry finally released his hand.

"Yes, Terriermon. We kind of do need Lopmon to help, and letting Suzie play with you was the only way I could pry her away." he whispered.

Terriermon still didn't look happy at the prospect of spending time alone with Suzie, considering what happened the last few times. Henry sighed, not wanting to deal with trying to convince Terriermon.

"Look, just do this for me, okay? I would really appreciate it."

After a few seconds pause, Terriermon hopped down from Henry's head.

"Alright, fine. I'll do it. Don't expect me to like it, though!"

"Thanks a bunch, Terriermon."

As Terriermon walked over to where Suzie was, Lopmon hopped down from her head, and the two Digimon traded places, Lopmon heading over to Henry and Terriermon reluctantly letting Suzie pick him up.

"Hey Suzie? How about you and Terriermon go spend some time with Guilmon? Takato and I need to talk for a bit."

"Okay!" said Suzie.

Although the seven year old was a little curious about the reasoning behind what happened between Henry and Terriermon, she walked over to where Guilmon was, looking forward to spending some time with Terriermon despite the look of dread on the bunny Digimon's face.

As for Henry, he finally turned towards Takato, who had a nonplussed look on his face after watching what's transpired.

"Alright Takato, I've got a huge favor I need to ask of you."

"What kind of favor are we talking about?" asked Takato.

"Well…Suzie's birthday is tomorrow, and I wanted to get her something special that she can share with Lopmon."

Henry paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, glancing at Lopmon, who had a look of surprise on her face.

"Why am I here, then? Aren't presents supposed to be surprises for whoever's getting them?" asked Lopmon.

"Well…I thought about that, but then I realized that we've only really met about three months ago while we were in the Digital World. I don't really know you as well as I do Terriermon or Guilmon, or even Renamon. So, I figured that I might as well get you in as well so I can get your opinion."

Lopmon nodded, having understood Henry's reasoning.

"Anyway Takato, I can't be taking care of Suzie while I'm shopping, for obvious reasons, so I need someone to keep an eye on her while I'm doing it."

"And you came to me to do it. Now, I'm not trying to poke holes in your reasoning here, but are you sure that I'd be best to take care of Suzie? What about Rika? I'm sure she's more…capable than I am."

"She'd probably slam the door in my face before I could get a chance to ask. Look Takato, I know that you're not exactly well-versed in babysitting, but you're the best choice I've got besides maybe Jeri. And believe me; I don't think it's the best idea to have Suzie and Terriermon there with her, especially with how things are at her house."

Takato knew full well that Jeri and her father were still trying to mend their relationship, but things were still kind of awkward between them, so he reluctantly agreed that it probably wouldn't be best. Sighing, he looked up towards Henry.

"Alright, I'll do it."

Beaming, Henry nearly hugged Takato before backing off just in time.

"Thanks, Takato. You're the best!"

Takato just awkwardly laughed as he watched Henry go back to where Suzie was. After following him over there, he managed to catch the tail end of the conversation between Henry and his sister. She didn't look too incredibly happy about being left alone, but when Henry mentioned Suzie being able to play with Guilmon, Terriermon and Takato, she noticeably brightened.

With Lopmon on top of his head, Henry stood up and faced Takato.

"Thanks again for the help, Takato. I'll give you a call when I've finished with what I'm doing. That sound alright with you?"

"Sure, that's fine."

Nodding, Henry began walking away, intending to head towards the shopping district.

"See you later, you guys!"

Takato waved goodbye at Henry before turning towards Suzie, who looked back at him curiously.

"So…what do you want to do?"

* * *

Back in the present, Henry and Lopmon were aimlessly looking around the shopping district, trying to see if there was any kind of place they could go where they could find Suzie a good present.

Unfortunately, the lack of variety in the shops meant finding something within Suzie's age range was a bit tough for the two of them.

Henry sighed, having passed by yet another clothing store.

"Man, this place really needs to get some more stores in. You find anything good, Lopmon?"

Lopmon was about to say that she didn't, when she suddenly spotted something across the street from them. With the speed that Henry was walking, though, she had to turn herself to be able to see it clearly, which led to Henry's head turning as well.

Thankfully, he stopped himself before he ended up walking into the street.

"What's up, Lopmon? Did you find something?" he asked as he stared up at the bunny Digimon.

"I think I see a toy store over there. There's gotta be something perfect in there for Suzie!"

"Hey, don't forget, this isn't just for Suzie. It's for you, too."

Lopmon huffed, not liking having to be reminded of something that she was only told about an hour ago.

"Of course I remember that. Right now I just want to find something that Suzie would like. Then we'll worry about whether we can share it."

"Okay, calm down, Lopmon. I was just joking around." said Henry as he held up his hands in defense.

Lopmon still wasn't entirely happy, but she ended up forgiving Henry, and the two of them headed across the street towards the toy store.

Once they managed to get inside, they were greeted by one of the employees, who asked if they could help them find what they need. Henry considered letting him tag along for a moment, but he soon realized that him and Lopmon would probably be good enough for what they needed.

"Thanks, but I think I'm good."

The clerk didn't look too happy at not getting to help, but he willingly got out of their way, heading back towards another customer who just came in.

Henry and Lopmon soon began looking around the store, Henry grabbing different products and Lopmon giving her opinions on each one. Unfortunately, Lopmon was being a little hard to please, so they were unable to find anything worthwhile.

Henry was starting to get annoyed at how difficult Lopmon was being, but he knew that if he started yelling, he was just going to get thrown out of the store, so he remained calm and rational.

"Look Lopmon, I know you're trying to help out, but this is taking way too long. I'd really like to get back to Suzie soon."

Before Henry could continue speaking, Lopmon suddenly pointed towards a wall a few feet away from them.

"Look over there!"

Henry looked over to where Lopmon was pointing and found something very interesting. Walking over to where it was, he picked it up and gave it a closer look, smiling the entire time.

"This is perfect. How did you find this, Lopmon?"

Henry looked up and saw a smug look on the Digimon's face.

"See? I told you that we'd find something good!"

Henry smiled, choosing not to reply to Lopmon's comment. Instead, he brought the product over to the register and paid for it.

Once out of the store, he once again looked up towards Lopmon, who was looking around the area, shielding her eyes with one of her ears.

"Come on, Lopmon. Let's head home. I want to hide this before we go pick up Suzie."

"What about the groceries? I thought your mom wanted you to get some."

"Don't worry, we will. I just don't want to be carrying this around while she's grocery shopping with me."

Nodding, Lopmon hopped down on to Henry's shoulders to give his head a rest, and as they began walking towards Henry's apartment, Henry was glad that things were going right for a change.


	9. Chapter 9

Luckily for Henry and Lopmon, neither of his parents were home yet, so he was able to get inside, hide the present inside his room and leave without being held up. He knew that trying to wrap the present while he was there was only going to invite more problems, so he decided to do it once he got back from the grocery store.

So, as he and Lopmon began making their way back to the park, Henry pulled out his cell phone and dialed Takato's number, doing as he promised and letting Takato know once he was done gift shopping.

"Hello?"

"Hey Takato, it's me. Just calling to let you know I'm heading back to the park to pick up Suzie."

"Oh, good. That's great."

Henry was about to hang up when he noticed the tone of Takato's voice.

"Is something up, Takato? You seem a little distracted."

It was then that he heard a strangled yell coming from the other end of the line. At first Henry was worried that it might have been Suzie, but then he realized that voice was much too nasally to be his sister.

"I'd better go, Henry." said Takato quickly.

Before Henry could try to get some answers out of Takato, the line immediately went dead, signaling that Takato had ended the call. Caught off guard, Henry stood there for a moment, staring at his open phone in shock, before finally shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

"Come on, Lopmon. I think we might need to save Terriermon from my sister."

Although Lopmon looked a little curious as she wondered what was going on, she willingly hopped down from Henry's shoulder and allowed him to carry her so that he could pick up speed and get to the park quicker.

* * *

When he finally managed to reach the park and find where Takato was, his jaw nearly dropped when he took in the sight in front of him.

Takato was busy trying to coax Suzie down from the monkey bars, where she had Terriermon within her grasp so that the Digimon couldn't escape. The surprising thing, though, was that Terriermon had a frilly pink dress and a tiara on, and he looked none too happy as he sat there.

Guilmon, meanwhile, somehow managed to get his head stuck inside one of the holes on the side of the dome, and he was currently desperately trying to pull himself out. Apparently Guilmon must have tried to climb up to help Takato out, but slipped.

After a few more seconds of taking in the scene in front of him, Henry decided that he needed to take action, so he walked towards Takato.

"Need some help?"

Takato nearly jumped, not expecting Henry to be right behind him. Thankfully, Henry didn't look too annoyed, so Takato relayed everything that happened.

"Everything was alright at first after you left. Both Suzie and Terriermon were being pretty pleasant, so I was hoping that things would stay smooth so that I wouldn't have to worry about more than just keeping an eye on her."

"So…I'm guessing that didn't happen?"

Takato shook his head, which didn't surprise Henry.

"I don't know where Suzie was carrying it, but she pulled out that dress that Terriermon's wearing right now, and he flipped! I tried to convince him to play along, but he was having none of it. Suzie ended up grabbing Terriermon and now they're up there playing prom."

Takato glanced towards Suzie for a moment before leaning over towards Henry, whispering into his ear.

"I'm pretty sure she's not doing it right, though."

Henry chose to ignore Takato's comment. Before he could say anything else, though, he was interrupted by Guilmon.

"Takato, help me! I'm stuck!"

Henry shook his head, wondering what kind of mess he's gotten himself into, before finally taking charge.

"Alright Takato, you go help get Guilmon unstuck. I'll try and get Suzie down."

Takato nodded before rushing over towards Guilmon, pulling as he tried to direct Guilmon to position his head so that it could slip out easier.

As for Henry, he walked up to the jungle gym, intending to talk Suzie down from her perch. He considered attempting to climb up after her, but then he figured that would only cause more problems, so he remained standing at the bottom.

"Hey, Suzie? Would you mind explaining to your brother what you're doing up there?"

Henry immediately winced, not liking how he said that last sentence, but thankfully Suzie didn't notice.

"Henwy, you're back! Terriewmon was being a naughty little king, so I had to show him how royalty is supposed to behave."

Henry looked down at Terriermon, who was now struggling, trying to get out of Suzie's grasp, but she held on tight. He knew that trying to convince her to release Terriermon wasn't going to work, considering she was pretty stubborn for a seven-year old, so Henry went with the only option he could think of, as he turned towards Lopmon.

"Lopmon, I think you should probably get back to Suzie before things get hairy."

Lopmon nodded, and hopped up the monkey bars, balancing on the top bar as she stood in front of Suzie.

"Suzie? I'm back, see? You can let go of Terriermon now."

Although she was a little hesitant after seeing what Terriermon was going through, she willingly presented herself to Suzie, who quickly released Terriermon.

As Terriermon ran as fast as humanly possible towards Henry, Suzie opened her arms, quickly standing up as she went to grab Lopmon. However, considering the fact that she was now only standing on one thin bar, she was immediately thrown off balance, and she began swaying wildly.

Thankfully, Henry noticed, and he quickly made his way up the jungle gym, barely managing to catch her just as she fell.

"That was close. Are you alright, Suzie?" asked Henry as he looked down at his sister.

Henry had a handful of her vest inside his fist, so it was difficult for her to be able to fully turn around, but she was able to turn her head and give Henry a smile.

"I'm fine. I just slipped a bit."

Henry sighed, relieved that nothing wrong happened. Thankfully, there wasn't that much distance between him and the ground, so he was able to carefully set Suzie back down to Earth and climb down after her.

After brushing himself off, Henry turned towards Suzie, who by this point had grabbed Lopmon and was standing next to him, a pleasant look on her face.

"You ready to go, Suzie? I have to go do some grocery shopping for Mom, and I was hoping that you two would help me out. How does that sound?"

Suzie nodded eagerly, while Lopmon simply watched Henry, having already known that she was going to go with them.

Henry was about to leave, when he suddenly realized that Terriermon wasn't with him. After looking around for a moment, worried for what might have happened to his partner, he eventually managed to find Terriermon in a heap on the ground, the dress in a pile near him.

He was confused for a moment, wondering why Terriermon was down there, before he suddenly realized that he might have accidentally moved out of the way when Terriermon was attempting to jump on to him.

"Sorry, Terriermon. I didn't mean to move out of your way." he said as he scratched at the back of his head.

After a few seconds of sitting in the dirt, Terriermon finally managed to pick himself up off of the ground and brush himself off. Even though he still looked a little huffy, he didn't seem too annoyed with the way he landed.

"It's fine, Henry. I guess I should've waited a few seconds while you caught Suzie."

Relieved that his partner wasn't mad at him, Henry lowered his arm to allow Terriermon to climb up on to his shoulder.

Before he could make a move to leave, though, his eyes soon fell on the dress that Terriermon was originally wearing.

"Hey Suzie? Where did you find this dress? I don't seem to remember you packing any of your dresses from home this morning."

Suzie opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, the two of them heard a yell, followed by a loud thump. Looking over in the direction of the noise, Henry saw that Takato must have managed to free Guilmon. He couldn't help but laugh, though, as he saw the position they were currently in.

Takato was splayed out on the ground, looking relieved that he managed to get Guilmon free, but at the same time annoyed that he was currently being pinned on the ground by the same Digimon, who was currently staring at the others with a giddy smile on his muzzle.

"Guilmon, can you get off…please?" asked Takato, barely managing to keep himself collected.

Guilmon hadn't realized that anyone was under him, so when he looked down, he nearly jumped when he saw Takato looking up at him.

"Oops. Sorry, Takato."

Guilmon picked himself up, letting Takato get up as well. After brushing himself off, he turned towards Henry.

"I actually do remember Suzie mentioning after you left that she brought this dress from your house."

Henry, caught off guard when he realized that one of her dresses was now ruined, turned towards Suzie, expecting her to be upset. However, surprisingly, she looked pretty normal. Still, wanting to avoid any problems in the future, Henry went to pick up the dress, tucking it over his arm.

"We'll stop over at the laundromat and get this thing washed. Hopefully it'll still be useable."

Henry looked over at Suzie, hoping that his answer would satisfy her, which it apparently did, as she still had a smile on her face.

Satisfied, Henry turned towards Takato.

"Thanks again for the help looking after Suzie, Takato. I'll see you later!"

"Hey wait a second! Aren't you going to invite us to her party?" asked Takato, gesturing towards Guilmon as if to include him in the group.

Henry paused, having completely forgotten about that face. However, he soon remembered something important his parents told him a couple of days ago. Sighing, he turned towards Takato.

"I'd love to invite you and the others to the party, Takato, but my parents really wanted this to be a family-centered birthday party, so only my family can be there. Hey, maybe they might let you guys come next year!"

Despite Henry's attempt to look on the bright side, both Takato and Guilmon looked pretty disappointed, so Henry figured it was best to leave, considering they were already behind schedule.

"Sorry guys. You know how my parents are sometimes."

Henry paused before finally beginning to lead Suzie out of the park.

"See you guys later."

As Henry and Suzie made their way back to the shopping district, Henry looked back towards the park, wishing that the last part of his conversation with Takato went a little better. It was too late to change anything, though, so he resolved to make things up with the two of them, no matter what it took.


	10. Chapter 10

Thankfully for Henry's continued sanity, the food shopping trip was pretty uneventful, although there was one time where he had to tell Suzie that they weren't allowed to buy anything that wasn't already on the list. She wasn't very happy about that fact, but she didn't make a fuss about it, which Henry was only too happy to have happen.

So, with arms full of groceries, Henry, Suzie and their Digimon began making their way back to their apartment. And by arms full of groceries, I meant that Henry was carrying everything.

Henry was barely managing to hold on to all of the bags due to the amount of stuff that was inside. It was so heavy that it got to the point that he was considering offloading one of the bags on to Suzie, but then he soon realized that there was probably no chance that she would even be able to carry one, so he decided to just grin and bear it.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the four of them managed to make it back to their apartment building. Unfortunately, the only problem was that the door into the building was just a normal door that you had to pull open, and with Henry's hands being full, he couldn't grab the door to open it.

Henry stood there in front of the door for a moment, thinking quickly about how he was going to shift the weight of the bags in his hands so that he would be able to free one of his hands when Terriermon leaned over from his perch on top of Henry's head to meet eye to eye with him.

"Need a hand there, Henry?"

As much as Henry wanted to figure this problem out himself, he knew that he was probably going to end up having to set at least one of the bags down on the ground, which with how overflowing the bags were would only lead to trouble.

Sighing, he looked up towards his partner, adopting a playful tone to hide his true feelings.

"You think that you can open this door with those stubby little arms?"

Terriermon huffed, not liking being made fun of.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I've done a lot of things with these arms!" he said, waving them around for emphasis.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Terriermon opened his mouth to begin listing, but then he soon realized that he couldn't think of any, which made Henry begin to giggle.

"Sorry Terriermon. Didn't mean to butter you up like that. But seriously, can you even open this door? It is a bit high for you."

Terriermon, thankfully, was willing to accept Henry's apology, but before he could make a move to open the door, the door was already opened. Looking down, Henry noticed that Suzie had opened the door for them, although she had a look on her face that Henry could tell meant that she was tired of waiting for them to finish.

"Thanks Suzie. Appreciate it." said Henry as he slipped through the open door.

Suzie gave a small smile at Henry's courtesy before following behind him and Terriermon, Lopmon hanging on to Suzie's head.

After taking the elevator up to their floor, Henry walked up to their door. Shifting the bags on to one hand, Henry knocked on the door, hoping that his parents were home so that he could be let in.

"Mom? Dad? You home?" he yelled towards the door.

Unfortunately, no one answered, so Henry took it as a sign that they weren't home. Sighing, he carefully set the bags down on the floor before digging around in his pockets to find the key.

Once he managed to find said key and open the door in front of him, he once again carefully picked up the bags (which were thankfully still in one piece) and shoved open the door in front of him with his shoulder.

After finally setting the bags on to the counter, Henry shook his arms out to get the feeling back into them before setting to work on putting the groceries away.

"Man, they must be pretty busy this week." he said after glancing at the clock at noticing the late hour.

"Well, I'm sure that your dad is probably still dealing with that breach predicament with Yamaki." said Terriermon as he looked inside one of the bags that Henry was sorting through.

"True, but that doesn't explain what my mom is up to nowadays."

"Who knows? I guess she must be really busy."

Henry paused, considering what Terriermon said.

"Yeah, but with what?"

Terriermon shrugged before returning to rooting around in the slowly emptying bag.

Sighing, Henry decided just to focus on getting the food packed away.

* * *

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, as Henry's parents came home not too long after Henry finished with the groceries and joined Suzie and Lopmon on the couch.

There was one slight hiccup in their day, though. During dinner, Henry attempted to ask his father if there was any news about the breach, but Janyu remained silent despite Henry trying multiple ways to get answers.

"Come on, dad! Can't you at least say something?"

"This is really not the best time, Henry! You're making a scene!" said Janyu, rounding on Henry with an angry look on his face.

Henry soon realized what he was doing when he looked over and saw the looks on Suzie and his mom. Suzie looked curious as ever, but Mayumi looked completely stressed as she listened to what was going on.

For some reason, though, Mayumi remained silent despite the look that she had, so Henry decided it was best to remain silent concerning this kind of subject so that he doesn't agitate his mother further.

After everyone finished their dinner, Janyu sent Henry and Suzie to bed. He said that it was so the two of them would be well-rested for Suzie's party tomorrow, but Henry had an idea of the real reason. Still, he didn't want to cause any more trouble, so he and Suzie got ready for bed and went into their rooms, trying their best to sleep as they attempted to avoid listening to the argument that the two parents attempted to drown out with the TV.

* * *

The next day came, and Henry woke up a little earlier than he usually would have, wanting to be up before Suzie. He hopped out of his bed and pulled his present out of his closet, quickly wrapping it up with some wrapping paper that he had stashed in the closet.

After sticking it back into the closet, Henry opened his bedroom door and went through to find his parents sitting in the kitchen, enjoying some breakfast. Henry could tell that things were a little strained between the two of them after last night, but he decided it was best not to pry into what happened, taking the fact that they weren't fighting as a good sign.

"Morning, mom! Morning, dad!"

"Good morning, Henry. We've already got some breakfast ready for you." said Janyu.

"Yeah, and don't take too long, too. Everyone's gonna be here in an hour or so, and I want everyone all ready for their arrival."

"Okay, mom."

Henry quickly ate his breakfast before heading into the shower and cleaning himself up. After finally pulling on his usual clothes, he walked back out into the living room just as Suzie walked out of her room, rubbing sleepily at her eyes.

"Morning, Suzie! Happy birthday!" said Henry as he watched Suzie walk forward.

It took a few seconds for that information to register with Suzie, but once it did she lit up. Looking down at Lopmon, she immediately picked up her partner and gave her a huge hug.

"Yay, it's my birthday! I'm so excited!"

Suzie began spinning around in a circle, Lopmon in her outstretched arms.

"Alright, Suzie. We need to get you ready for when everyone comes." said Janyu, smiling as he made his way over to where Suzie was.

Henry watched as Suzie set Lopmon down (who stumbled around for a bit considering the spinning made her dizzy) and followed Janyu into the bathroom, the door closing behind them.

After some time has passed, the door opened, and the two of them came back into the living room, Suzie looking noticeably excited as she was dressed in her usual attire.

Suzie then went over and joined her mom at the table as she went ahead and had her breakfast before joining Henry, Terriermon and Lopmon on the couch as they waited for the rest of their family to arrive.

* * *

Just as Mayumi said, the rest of Henry's family arrived about an hour later to a newly decorated apartment, as Henry worked together with his parents to get everything set up.

The party started off pretty smoothly at first, with everyone simply mingling with each other and celebrating the occasion. As for Suzie herself, she was spending time with Henry and his older brother and sister playing with Terriermon and Lopmon, who were both posing as dolls since Henry felt it was safer for them to avoid showing their relatives they exist.

Eventually, it was time for presents, and as Suzie began opening gifts from everyone, Henry went into his room and pulled his gift out of the closet before returning to everyone else.

"Here you go, Suzie. I picked this out especially for you." he said.

As Henry handed the gift to Suzie, he glanced over at Lopmon, who was still posing as the doll, so he couldn't really tell if she had a problem with the way he phrased it. He did hope, though, that she would have understood considering the circumstances.

"Ooh, it's a scooter! I love it!"

Suzie held out a brand new scooter inside its packaging, with a set of elbow pads and a helmet for safety.

"Thanks, Henwy!"

Suzie quickly went over and gave Henry a hug.

"No problem, Suzie. I'll even help you learn how to ride it if you want."

"I'd love to!"

Satisfied, Henry let Suzie go, and she returned to where she was originally sitting.

With all of the presents opened, everyone was about to get ready for dinner, when the sky suddenly started to get dark outside.

"That's strange. I thought it was supposed to be bright and sunny out today." said Henry's brother, who noticed the change.

Curious, Henry looked outside, wondering what the sudden change in weather was about, when Terriermon suddenly hopped on to his head just as he noticed a strange purple cloud nearby.

Henry was about to chide Terriermon for nearly blowing his cover when what the bunny Digimon said next made his jaw nearly drop in shock.

"Henry, it's a Digimon! We need to go!"


	11. Chapter 11

"Henry! We have to go before the Digimon escapes!"

Henry immediately slapped his hand over Terriermon's mouth, looking behind him to make sure no one heard Terriermon talking.

Thankfully, the adults didn't notice, as they were too busy engaging in their conversations, but the kids were a different story.

Suzie and Lopmon were just staring at them curiously, which Henry wasn't really worried about. However, he soon noticed that his brother and sister were also staring at him, or more specifically Terriermon.

"Uh, did you doll just talk?" asked Rinchei.

Henry froze, quickly trying to come up with an excuse.

"Um…yeah, it did. Dad kind of…bought it for me a little while ago. He even managed to get one that says my name, too!"

Henry plastered on a smile, hoping that the two of them would buy his excuse.

"Okay then. Why didn't Dad think about buying one of those for us, though? I like to think we're just as worthy of one, too." said Jaarin, frowning as she looked up at Terriermon.

Henry simply shrugged, giving the two of them his best look of sympathy he could manage.

Thankfully, they soon went to the other side of the room, which gave Henry a chance to talk to Terriermon in private.

"Terriermon, I thought I told you not to talk when my relatives are around!" he whispered loudly.

"I know you said that, but I'm not just pulling your chain here! Didn't you see the digital field outside?"

Henry admittedly was more interested in what the weather was doing when he looked outside, but he decided to take a look through the window again to see if Terriermon was indeed telling the truth.

"Wow, that is a digital field! I didn't think that I'd ever see it this close to my house." he said, slightly surprised to see the telltale purple smoke just across the street from him.

Pulling his head back through the window, he turned towards Terriermon, who had managed to squeeze himself next to Henry as he had his head out of the window.

"Come on, Terriermon. Let's go take this Digimon down!" he said, being careful not to draw suspicion from the others in the room.

"Right!"

Terriermon hopped up on to Henry's shoulder as he began making his way to the door. However, he didn't get far before he was stopped in his tracks by his mom, who called over to him from the kitchen.

"Henry? Where are you going?"

"I'll be right back, mom! I just have something I need to take care of."

Mayumi didn't look pleased with Henry's vague answer, but she decided that it was best not to cause a scene especially considering what day it was.

"Don't take too long, okay? We're having dinner and cake soon."

"Okay, mom!"

Henry calmly made his way out the door, trying to make it look like nothing was wrong, but when he finally shut the door behind him, he took off at a run, heading straight for the elevator.

"Come on…come on…" he said to himself as he rode the elevator down, waiting for it to open.

Finally, the doors did eventually open, and Henry ran straight for the doors, bursting through them and heading straight for the digital field. Before crossing through, though, he stopped right in front of the barrier and turned towards Terriermon.

"You ready to go, Terriermon?"

The bunny Digimon simply nodded, a determined look on his face.

Satisfied, Henry looked back towards the field before pulling out his green sunglasses and placing them over his eyes. After slowly breathing in and out to calm his nerves, he broke into a light jog as he passed into the digital field.

* * *

Once the fog in front of his eyes dissipated, Henry finally got a chance to look around. Pulling out his D-Power, he held it out in front of him as he scanned the area for the rogue Digimon's location. However, for some reason, it didn't seem to be picking up any signals.

"Where are you?" he said to himself as he stared at the projection in front of him and started walking.

Henry was beginning to think that something strange was going on due to the lack of any other Digimon inside the field, but before he could think about leaving, he heard a voice coming from the other side of the field.

"Crusher Bone!"

Henry narrowly managed to dive out of the way of the incoming attack. As he watched a large bone fly by where he originally was standing, he quickly managed to pick himself up and turn towards where the attack came from.

By the time Henry got back up, the Digimon who attacked had finally revealed itself, and Henry pulled out his D-Power to scan it.

"Drimogemon. Champion level. Looks like we've got a bit of a fight on our hands, Terriermon."

"I'm ready to go when you are, Henry!" said Terriermon, who had positioned himself in between Henry and the Drimogemon.

Henry watched as Terriermon and the Drimogemon had an intense staredown before Terriermon decided to make the first move, jumping towards the Drimogemon.

"Bunny Blast!"

Hundreds of green pellets fired from Terriermon's mouth as he aimed towards the rogue Digimon, but instead of dodging to the side, the Drimogemon dug into the ground, the pellets flying harmlessly over its head.

Henry winced when he noticed the gaping hole that was now in the street.

"I really need to take this guy down before he digs too many holes." he said to himself.

Terriermon continued to fire more Bunny Blasts, but despite the large size of the Drimogemon, the Digimon was still pretty nimble, as he managed to dodge every blast.

"Henry! I can't seem to hit this guy!" he yelled.

"Try your other attack, Terriermon!"

Although Terriermon wasn't exactly too sure that it would actually work, he decided that it was worth a shot anyway.

"Terrier Tornado!"

Terriermon began spinning wildly, forming a small tornado as he began barreling towards the Drimogemon. However, the Drimogemon was already heading towards Terriermon with its own attack.

"Mole's Claw!"

The Terrier Tornado collided with the Drimogemon's claws just as they began spinning, sending Terriermon flying due to the difference in weight between the two of them.

"No, Terriermon!" yelled Henry.

Realizing that the battle wasn't going as well as he thought, Henry grabbed his D-Power and reached down towards the deck of cards he had in his pocket, which he was definitely glad to have remembered to take with him.

Shuffling through the deck as quickly as he could, Henry tried his best to find something that would help, but nothing seemed to come up.

Henry winced once more as he heard Terriermon's attacks barely do any damage to the Drimogemon.

"Come on, come on! There's gotta be something in here!"

Finally, Henry's eyes landed on the perfect card. However, he was surprised to find that it was actually in his deck.

"The blue card? I thought that disappeared after all of the Digimon left." he said to himself as he stared at the blue card, as shiny as it ever has been.

As much as Henry wanted to get to the bottom of how the blue card reappeared in his deck, he knew that he needed to use it if Terriermon was going to win the fight.

Determined, he replaced the other cards back into his pocket before sliding the blue card through his reader.

"Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!"

After narrowly managing to dodge another of Drimogemon's attacks, Terriermon was caught off guard when he was suddenly enveloped in a green cocoon.

"Terriermon digivolve to…Gargomon!"

The cocoon soon disappeared, revealing the newly digvolved Gargomon, smirking as he watched the Drimogemon panic.

"Ready to go, Mr. Moleman?" taunted Gargomon.

"Um…Iron Drill Spin!"

Drimogemon's drill nose soon began spinning as he attempted to impale Gargomon. However, Gargomon managed to deftly dodge the attack and counter with his own.

"Bunny Pummel!"

Gargomon slammed down with one of his gatling pellet gun hands, knocking Drimogemon silly, before comboing into an uppercut with his other, sending the mole Digimon sprawling.

"Come on, Gargomon! Take him out!" yelled Henry, thankful that the blue card allowed him to turn the battle around.

"Gargo Pellets!"

Gargomon fired a volley of pellets, tearing through the Drimogemon as it finally disintegrated into data. However, instead of absorbing said data, Gargomon decided not to, which surprised Henry.

"Are you not going to absorb the data, Gargomon?"

"Nah. I think I'm definitely strong enough as is. Besides, I'm sure that Drimogemon wasn't all bad."

"Really? How so?" asked Henry, having not noticed anything strange going on with the Drimogemon.

"I dunno. He kind of looked a little freaked out, like he didn't realize that he was going to be here."

Henry paused as he considered what Gargomon said.

"Hm. That's strange. You'd think that these kinds of Digimon would be trying to get into our world."

"Well, maybe that Drimogemon got here accidentally." said Gargomon as he de-digivolved back to Terriermon just as the digital field dissipated.

"Maybe…"

Henry thought for a moment about what Terriermon said before suddenly remembering the giant hole that Drimogemon dug.

"Oh no, what are we gonna do? This thing's huge!" he said as he looked down at the hole in front of him.

"Ignore it and hope that someone else fixes it?" asked Terriermon hopefully.

"No, we can't do that. I'll just call the emergency help line. Hopefully I can think of a good excuse to get some people out here to fill this hole."

"Hey, at least it isn't on the road!"

Henry soon noticed that it was in fact not on the road, which he was definitely thankful for. Pulling out his phone, he dialed the number for emergency services and waited as it rung.

"Hello? I'd like to report a large hole across the street from the apartment complex in West Shinjuku…How did it get there?...Well, how should I know! I just noticed it right now. I don't want anyone to fall in…Thanks."

Henry closed his phone, thankful that he was able to work his way around the call despite not being able to think of a good reason for the hole's existence.

"Come on, Terriermon. Mom's probably worried about us."

Henry reached out with his arm, allowing Terriermon to hop up it on to his shoulder. As the two of them began walking back towards the apartment building, Henry couldn't help but wonder whether some of the Digimon were actually coming through the breach into the real world with an intent to cause damage.

There was a chance, like with the Drimogemon, that some Digimon may have come through the breach accidentally, which began to worry him, as it led to a bit of an issue of morality.

Sighing, Henry decided that it wasn't really worth it to try and continue to focus on this issue, so he put it into the back of his mind, shelving the issue for another time as he made his way back to his apartment.


	12. Chapter 12

Rika was aimlessly walking down the street, having decided that she needed some time away from her overbearing mother.

Now, while she and her mother have begun working on repairing their relationship ever since what happened two months ago, there are still points where Rika felt that she needed some alone time.

So, as she continued walking, she was lost in thought, wondering what she could do since no Digimon have appeared since the one that Henry and Terriermon took out.

Stopping for a moment, she looked towards the right and suddenly noticed that her reflection was showing through the window of a store that she was standing next to.

Thankfully, none of the people inside the store were looking towards her, which gave her a few seconds to study herself in the window, and she huffed when she realized that her hair was still down.

Despite really wanting to make an effort to make her mom happy, she never really liked wearing her hair down. She never really wanted to admit it in public, but she was always a bit of a tomboy. So, after pulling a hairband out of her pocket, she grabbed her hair and pulled it tight, letting it stick up in her usual hairstyle as she wrapped the hairband around her ponytail.

Satisfied with the way her hair looked, she moved on, deciding that she could use some fresh air at the park. However, before she could really get too far, Renamon suddenly appeared out of thin air behind her.

"Something up, Renamon?" she asked, turning towards her partner as she continued walking.

Renamon paused for a moment before answering.

"No, everything's fine Rika. I did run into Impmon, though."

Rika stopped in her tracks. Despite having a feeling that the mischievous Digimon might have showed up alongside everyone else's Digimon, it still pleasantly surprised her to see him show up again.

"Really? Was he causing trouble like always?"

"Surprisingly no. I suppose that what must have happened last time must have really changed him for the better. He was quite jumpy, though."

Rika opened her mouth to reply before soon realizing that Renamon's comment about Impmon being jumpy made her curious.

"Jumpy? How can a loudmouth like Impmon be so jumpy?"

"I did nearly end up getting singed by one of his flame attacks when I snuck up on him. He wouldn't tell me when I tried to ask him about it, though."

Although Rika was slightly disappointed that Renamon didn't have any answers about what was with Impmon, she hoped that there at least wasn't any ill intent.

"Well…how would you feel about keeping an eye on Impmon? I'm pretty sure he's not really up to something, but it wouldn't hurt to see what's got him so riled up."

Renamon paused for a moment, slightly caught off guard by Rika's suggestion.

"I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get from just watching him, but if that's what you want me to do, I'll do it."

"I'm not forcing you to do it, Renamon. It's your choice. If you don't want to do it, we can always wait until he's ready to tell us."

Renamon paused once more, surprised to see Rika acting like this.

"Thank you for giving me the option, Rika. I'm surprised, though. You're not normally like this all the time."

"I guess I'm just in a good mood today. By the way, I'm heading over to the park. Interested in joining me?"

"Um…okay. I'd be glad to."

Although Renamon was interested to see why Rika was in such a good mood today, she decided to push that thought to the back of her mind and just enjoy the time that they're spending together.

* * *

Unfortunately, just before they were able to actually get to the park, Rika and Renamon ended up running into Kazu and Kenta, who were heading in the other direction with Guardromon and MarineAngemon.

"Hey…Rika. How's it going?" asked Kenta timidly.

Renamon looked over towards her partner, curious to see how she would take this interruption in their plans.

While she did look annoyed, she remained cool and collected.

"I'm fine. Now can you please move? Renamon and I have to go somewhere."

Rika attempted to shove her way through Kazu and Kenta, but before she could, Kazu blocked her path.

"Now hold on! Kenta and I have barely gotten any information about what was going on since that breach happened, and we're tired of being kept in the dark. So, we're not moving until we get some answers!"

Kazu looked at Rika, expecting her to start telling him what was going on, but to the surprise of no one outside of him and Kenta, Rika looked like she was about to punch him.

However, before she could go through with it, Renamon decided that she needed to step in.

"Rika, it might be in our best interests just to let them know about what's going on. They're just as much in this mess as you, Takato and Henry."

Rika looked over at her partner annoyed, but she soon realized that with Kazu refusing to move, she didn't really have much of a choice. Sighing, she looked up towards Renamon.

"Fine. If it'll get rid of these knuckleheads, I'll do it."

Even though neither Kazu nor Kenta liked being labeled as knuckleheads, they remained silent, not wanting to anger Rika any more.

"Here's the short version. We haven't heard anything from Yamaki about closing the breach, so there's nothing we can do about it. So far, there's only been two Digimon who have managed to bio-emerge into our world, but thankfully Takato and Henry have already taken care of those two. We don't know when or where the next one will come out, but I expect you two to be ready to fight if either of you are close to it. You got that?"

"That wasn't very short, Rika." pointed out Kenta, earning a glare from Rika.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Kenta was desperately trying to hope that Rika would forget his stupid comment, but initially it looked like Rika was about to chew him out. However, instead of doing so, Rika sighed, calming herself down.

"Can I go now? I've told you guys all that we know right now, and Renamon and I would really like to get to the park."

Kazu and Kenta traded looks after Rika's mentioning about 'going to the park', which caused the redhead to look at them weirdly, wondering what exactly was going on in their heads.

However, instead of making a comment about it, Kazu and Kenta simply positioned themselves near the sides of the sidewalk they were on, leaving an opening for them. At least it would be an opening if Guardromon wasn't standing in the middle of it, looking confused.

"Guardromon, move over! We're letting them through!"

Guardromon jumped when he heard Kazu's voice.

"Oh! Sorry, Kazu. My mistake."

Guardromon immediately shuffled off to the side of the sidewalk, leaving the route open.

Rika and Renamon didn't immediately go through said route, though, as Rika was too busy looking at Kazu and Kenta in confusion as the two of them looked incredibly proud for letting Rika through.

"You guys are so weird."

Shaking her head, she made her way through the opening, ignoring the glares that she was getting from the two boys.

As her and Renamon finally passed between Kazu and Kenta, MarineAngemon floated in front of Kenta and gave him a look.

"I know, MarineAngemon. Rika just has her moments sometimes, I suppose."

"Come on, Kenta. Let's go." said Kazu as he began walking away.

Caught off guard, it took Kenta a few seconds to start following behind Kazu and Guardromon, forcing MarineAngemon to rush to keep up.

* * *

Finally, after what seemed like forever after their run in with Kazu and Kenta, Rika and Renamon eventually made it to the park.

"So, what did you want to do here, Rika?" asked Renamon as they walked through the park.

Rika gave her answer some thought, as she didn't want to appear flippant to her partner and make her think that this trip wasn't so special.

"How about we just spend some time walking? I've heard it's a good way to relieve stress, and I'm sure that we could both use it."

Renamon silently agreed, noting the run-in as well as the entire breach situation as possible causes for stress.

The two of them began walking, both of them trying their best to keep their minds off of the breach that was still in the sky somewhere, but unfortunately the constant worry that a Digimon was going to pop up at any moment made it difficult for them to relax.

Sighing, Rika flopped down onto a nearby bench.

"This isn't working! Here I was thinking that a nice walk would help relax us, but all I can think about is where the next Digimon is going to bio-emerge!"

Renamon sat down on the bench next to her, thinking about what she could say to help.

"Rika, I…I understand what you must be going through trying to deal with this issue that we're facing, but there's no need to panic. We've dealt with this before, and I'm sure that we'll deal with this again."

Rika opened her mouth like she was about ready to argue Renamon's point, but then she soon realized that her partner was right. Sighing, she closed her eyes for a moment before looking over at Renamon.

"You're right, Renamon. I shouldn't be acting like this. We just have to remain calm and focus on the task ahead of us, and then we'll be fine."

"Yes, I would have to agree that would be the best course of action."

Rika stood up from her spot on the bench, a newly determined look on her face as she looked forward.

"I'm gonna head back home. Are you coming?"

Renamon was slightly surprised to hear what her next course of action was considering the look on her face made it seem like she was going to march off and take on the next Digimon herself.

"Right behind you, Rika." she said as she stood up next to her.

The two of them soon began making their way back towards Rika's house. As they were walking, Rika couldn't help but hope that things would continue to go as smoothly as it has went so far.


	13. Chapter 13

The walk back to Rika's house went pretty smoothly for her and Renamon. Despite some strange looks from some of the people on the streets who noticed the fox Digimon, none of them really said anything, which suited Rika enough.

Finally, the telltale city landscape turned into a traditional Japanese garden, and Rika stopped in the middle of said garden, taking in the beauty as she stood there.

"Something wrong, Rika?" asked Renamon, curious as she watched her partner's head bob in different directions.

"Nothing, Renamon. You should probably go for now. I can't imagine my mom would be too thrilled seeing you around."

Renamon nodded, intending to follow through on Rika's request, but before she could disappear, Rika turned around to meet her face-to-face, smiling.

"Don't worry, Renamon. Once I get some alone time, we'll spend some more time together. That alright with you?"

Renamon paused, unsure of what to say at first.

"Of course. I'll be nearby if you need me."

Rika nodded before turning around to face the front door of her house, waiting for the telltale whoosh of Renamon disappearing into thin air before walking up and sliding the door open.

"Mom, I'm home!"

There wasn't an answer immediately from inside the house, making Rika think that her mom and grandmother were out somewhere. However, it wasn't long before her mother came bounding through a nearby doorway.

"Rika! I didn't expect to see you back home so early! Did your trip go well?"

"Uh, yeah. Yes it did." said Rika, looking noticeably perturbed at the way her mother was acting.

While things between Rika and her mother have gotten a little better since the Tamers' battle with the D-Reaper, there have been sometimes when Rumiko went a little overboard with her attempts to make things right. Being a well-known fashion model also made it a little tough for their relationship as well, considering how much time Rumiko had to spend away from her daughter.

Also, in a case of old habits dying hard, Rika's mother was also still trying to get Rika into modeling as well. While Rika was a little more willing to go along with her mother's plans than she was initially, she was still reluctant to completely follow through with them, as she still wanted to have a choice in what she wanted to do with her life. Plus, the teasing from Kazu and Kenta would get unbearable, to the point where one or both of them would probably end up dead.

"Hey Mom, is Grandma around anywhere?"

Rumiko paused for a moment, slightly caught off guard by the sudden change in subject.

"No, unfortunately I haven't seen her in a while."

It was Rika's turn to be surprised, as her grandmother rarely ever left the house unless it was for important business. Even then, either Rika or her mother was there to accompany her.

"Did she tell you anything about where she was going?"

"No, she didn't. I was out doing some errands, and when I got back she wasn't here. I simply assumed that she was out doing something as well."

Rumiko paused as she looked at her daughter, who was looking noticeably worried.

"Rika? What's going on?"

Rika considered telling her mother of the possible danger her grandmother could be in, but decided against it, fearing that Rumiko could do something drastic to help. As much as Rika hated some of the stuff that her mother did, she would never forgive herself if she allowed her to get hurt, or worse.

"I have to go."

Without waiting for an answer, Rika quickly turned around and ran through the still open front door, not stopping even when her mother attempted to call her back.

"Rika, wait! Where are you going?"

Rumiko considered chasing after Rika, as she was beginning to get the idea that something bad might be going on with her mother, but then she realized that Rika was more than capable of taking care of herself. Even though she was still worried about the safety of both of her family members, she reluctantly closed the door, returning to the living room as she waited to see what was going to happen.

* * *

As Rika quickly rushed down the street, looking every which way she could in an attempt to find any sign of her possibly missing grandmother, Renamon suddenly appeared next to her, running along with her as they continued down the sidewalk.

"Is something going on, Rika? I noticed how quickly you were running out of your house."

"My grandma's gone! She disappeared while my mom was out!"

Renamon looked noticeably surprised for a moment before quickly jumping in front of Rika, forcing her to stop in her tracks.

"Are you completely sure that your grandmother wasn't somewhere else in the house?"

Rika was desperately trying to get around Renamon, hoping to get back to searching for her, but Renamon grabbed her by the shoulders to make sure she wouldn't move.

"This is important, Rika! We have to know for sure whether your grandmother wasn't anywhere else in the house, otherwise this search would be a complete waste of time for the both of us."

Calming herself down, Rika collected her thoughts as she remembered what exactly happened while she was home.

"She wasn't anywhere in the garden while you and I were outside. I'm sure I would have noticed while I was looking around. My mom was also the only one who came to greet me whenever I went inside, too. My grandma would usually be there as well whenever I came home."

"Did your mother have any idea of where she could have gone?"

Rika simply shook her head, confirming Renamon's suspicions.

"Well, do you have any idea of what may have happened to her?"

Rika didn't answer. She did have an idea, but what she had in mind seemed way too farfetched, at least with how things have been going so far. However, she didn't have to voice her idea, as Renamon managed to figure it out on her own.

"Digimon."

The two of them fell silent for a moment before Renamon continued on.

"Is that what you think? A Digimon may have got her?"

Rika paused for a moment before answering.

"Yeah, it's possible, but how could a Digimon have gotten through into our world without us noticing? I mean, digital fields stick out like a sore thumb, especially with how well you guys can sense those things!"

"It is very much possible that one may have snuck through without us noticing. Our senses aren't completely foolproof, so we may have to consider that as an option."

That didn't make Rika feel any better, but at this point she knew that she needed to remain focused if they wanted to find her grandmother safe and sound.

* * *

Rika and Renamon spent the next couple of hours traveling along the sidewalks in the city as they began their search for Rika's missing grandmother. Unfortunately, the search ended up being a little more difficult than they thought.

With the fact that a Digimon may have been the culprit (at least as far as they believed that was the case), calling out her grandmother's name was literally impossible considering the amount of people that were still on the street at this time of night. Getting the police involved would end up making it even more of a thorny situation as well, which is why both Rika and Renamon wanted to avoid that.

So, without a way to point themselves in the right direction, the two of them walked around aimlessly, hoping to find a clue of any kind.

However, just as Rika was beginning to think that the entire ordeal was hopeless, she suddenly noticed Renamon tense up next to her.

"Are you sensing another Digimon, Renamon?" she asked even though she had a good idea of what the answer was.

"Yes, and it's close. Follow me."

Renamon shot off in the opposite direction that they were originally walking, forcing Rika to run to keep up with her.

Eventually, the two of them reached the telltale clouds of the digital field. However, as Rika pulled out her glasses as they prepared to enter the field, Renamon turned to face her partner.

"Rika, do you think that we might be able to get some answers as to the whereabouts of your grandmother from the Digimon inside this field?"

Rika paused, having not considered that fact.

"You know, that is possible. As much as I want to beat this mon's head in, let's keep him alive for now and we'll see if he's willing to answer some questions."

Renamon nodded in understanding before heading into the digital field, Rika following a few seconds later once she managed to put her glasses on.

* * *

Once Rika's vision cleared from the constant fog, she removed her glasses before taking a look around the area. Despite the large cloud hanging around them, the inside of the field looked just about the same as it normally does during a regular day, outside of the fact that most of the cars were abandoned.

Pulling out her D-Power, Rika scanned the area, hoping to find the Digimon before it managed to get the jump on them. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to come up, but by sheer luck, Rika's intuition managed to kick in, and she managed to warn Renamon just in time.

"Renamon! Behind you!"

Reacting on instinct, Renamon dodged out of the way just as a blur rushed past where she was originally standing. Once Renamon came to a stop, both her and Rika managed to get a full look at the Digimon they were facing as it began stamping its feet in annoyance at failing to ambush them. Taking the opportunity, Rika scanned the Digimon and looked down at the screen, reading off all of the information.

"Fangmon. Champion level. It can use it's Snipe Steal and Blast Coffin attacks to steal your stuff and destroy you in one fluid motion! Be careful, Renamon! He looks pretty sneaky!"

Renamon nodded in understanding before immediately jumping up into the air.

"Diamond Storm!"

A large number of diamonds appeared in front of Renamon before shooting towards the Fangmon. However, Fangmon easily managed to dodge them, bounding out of the way as the leaves flew harmlessly past them.

"Blast Coffin!"

Fangmon's attempt at a counter was pretty quick after dodging Renamon's attack, but by the time it managed to fire, Renamon was already on the ground and dodging out of the way.

Once Fangmon's attack came to an end, Renamon took the initiative and rushed forwards, her hands and feet beginning to glow with a blue flame.

"Power Paw!"

Leaping into the air, Renamon slashed out towards the Fangmon, kicking and punching as hard as she could manage, but the Fangmon was still holding his own.

As Rika continued to watch the battle unfold, in her mind she was busy formulating plans to help Renamon win the fight, but all of the plans that she could think of would only lead to Fangmon's destruction and the loss of their only real lead as to her grandmother's location.

Annoyed, Rika grabbed her card deck and began shuffling as quickly as she could through them, trying her best not to let the fight turning towards Fangmon's favor distract her.

Nothing seemed to work, though, and Rika was beginning to worry, as Renamon was beginning to tire out from the constant assault of the Fangmon.

"Agh, why won't any of these stupid cards work?!" she yelled, dropping her entire deck as she clutched at her head.

To her surprise, though, one of the cards gave off a telltale blue flash, catching Rika's eye. Confused, she looked downwards and saw the infamous blue card poking out of one of the larger piles of what was once her card deck.

"What the-"

Reaching towards said pile, Rika picked up the card and turned it over in her hand, realizing that it wasn't just some cruel joke and it was indeed the blue card.

"I thought that this disappeared after Renamon had to leave." she said to herself as she studied the card.

As much as she wanted to figure out how and why the blue card suddenly came back to her, she was quickly pulled out of her thoughts by a scream of pain.

"Oh no, Renamon!"

Quickly reacting, Rika slid the blue card through her D-Power.

"Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!"

Renamon was suddenly engulfed in a blue light, narrowly avoiding another attack from the Fangmon who was forced to retreat when faced with the blinding light in front of it.

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

It didn't take long before the light vanished, and Kyubimon appeared before Rika and the Fangmon, looking as majestic as ever.

"Dragon Wheel!"

Kyubimon began to spin in a circle, becoming engulfed in flames as it formed into a dragon. Shooting towards the Fangmon, Kyubimon managed to score a direct hit as the Fangmon was too distracted by the sudden Digivolution to dodge.

The Dragon Wheel ended up doing a large amount of damage to the Fangmon, leaving the wolf Digimon barely able to stand. However, just as Kyubimon prepared to finally eliminate the Fangmon, Rika suddenly came forwards.

"Kyubimon, stop!"

Caught off guard, Kyubimon stopped just short of firing off her attack, the fire around her disappearing as Rika walked towards the Fangmon.

"I apologize, Rika. I got caught up in the battle for a moment and forgot our plan."

"It's fine, Kyubimon. Let's just get this over with."

Rika leaned over the injured Fangmon, giving the Digimon a look of pity before speaking.

"Now, I'm only going to ask you this once, and I'd better hear a good answer if you don't want to be data. Where is Seiko Hata?"

Rika paused as she waited for the reply from the Fangmon.

"I don't know who you're talking about, human."

This comment earned the Fangmon a swift kick in the ribs from an annoyed Rika.

"One more chance. Tell me where she is, or I'll make sure Kyubimon here fries you to the point where even your family won't recognize you."

Kyubimon tried her best to look menacing, but the Fangmon was unimpressed.

"My master's going to destroy me anyway if I tell you, so destroy me. I don't care."

As much as Rika wanted to keep trying, she knew that she probably wasn't going to get any more answers from the Fangmon, so she walked off, gesturing towards Kyubimon as a signal to take care of him.

"Foxtail Inferno!"

The flames from Kyubimon's tails immediately engulfed the Fangmon, destroying the Digimon within seconds. As Kyubimon absorbed the data and the digital field disappeared from around them, Rika shook her head angrily as she walked towards the sidewalk.

"There goes our only lead! Now we're never going to find her!"

Sitting down on the ground, Rika buried her head in her hands as the stress that she was going through washed over her. Thankfully, though, Kyubimon was there to comfort her.

"It's okay, Rika. I'm sure we'll find her soon enough."

"Yeah, but how? This city's huge! And even then, there's no guarantee that she's even in the city."

"Well, maybe now's a good time to bring in Takato and the others. I'm sure they'd be happy to help search for her."

"Maybe you're right. It's getting late, though. Let's discuss this in the morning, okay?"

Kyubimon nodded, and she de-digivolved back to Renamon before the two of them headed back home, hopeful that Rika's grandmother was still alright.

* * *

**Hey, I'm back! Ugh…I'm really sorry about this. I had a massive case of writer's block when it came to continuing this thing. Thankfully, I didn't manage to write myself into a corner, but the way I did write it made it difficult to find a way to continue without making it seem too similar to the actual anime. Initially it was going in that direction, but I think I've found a way to deviate from it, and I hope you guys find it interesting along the way.**

**Anyway, once again I really apologize for the long wait. I'm really hoping to get back up to speed with writing chapters now that I have an idea of where I'm going. Thanks for understanding.**

**RK**


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning came, just as all of the others have. It almost began to feel mundane to Takato, as he got up out of his bed and headed towards the bathroom to get ready for yet another day of school.

Despite some of the nervous stares that Guilmon got from his parents (his mom even looked like she was scared that Guilmon was going to set her hair on fire accidentally), the new houseguest largely didn't really affect the day-to-day lifestyle of the family.

As Takato continued to walk towards the bathroom, he was only vaguely aware of what was going on around him thanks to being in his half-asleep state. However, just as he was about to turn into the room, his foot suddenly caught on something large.

Being half-asleep meant that he had pretty much no reaction time to save himself, so as he fell forwards, he quickly rolled to his side to avoid having his face take the brunt of the impending impact.

Thankfully, although his head did snap forward a bit from the momentum, Takato managed to land on his shoulder. Although it stung quite a bit, Takato was thankful that the fall wasn't worse.

After taking a few moments to recover, Takato rolled on to his back and lifted his head, trying to see what he tripped on, but to his surprise, he found that his feet were still on top of said object and not on the floor. Said object was also red and quite large, which clued Takato in to exactly what happened.

"Guilmon? Hey, Guilmon!"

Realizing that Guilmon was currently fast asleep, Takato lightly tapped the sleeping Digimon with one of his feet to hopefully wake him up. It ended up taking a few tries, but Guilmon eventually did wake up, standing up as Takato's feet fell limply to the floor.

"Takato? What's going on?"

"Never mind that, Guilmon? What are you doing out here? I thought you went to sleep by my bed like you usually do. Now I see you sleeping in front of my bathroom. Is there something you're not telling me?" asked Takato, more curious than annoyed at the state he was currently in.

It took Guilmon a few moments to collect his thoughts and remember what happened, but his expression eventually brightened as he remembered.

"Oh! I remember what happened. I was hungry last night."

"So…that doesn't really explain why you were sleeping in front of the bathroom."

"Umm…to be honest, I don't remember. I was really tired."

Takato paused, slightly disappointed at the lack of a clear answer, but he had an idea of what happened after taking a look at the area around him.

"Well, judging by the lack of food or crumbs, I'd say that you probably only made it out to the bathroom and fell asleep. Isn't that right?"

"I guess so." said Guilmon, shrugging.

"Okay. Just…warn me next time when you have to go somewhere during the night. I don't want to be tripping over you again."

"Okay, Takato!"

Despite the lack of width in the hallway, Guilmon somehow managed to turn himself around and lightly jog back towards Takato's room, which allowed Takato to pick himself up and begin getting ready for school. However, before he could get far, he suddenly heard a voice coming from downstairs.

"Hey, Takato? Is everything alright up there?"

"Yeah, mom, I'm fine! I just tripped on the carpet!"

Although that technically wasn't the truth, Takato didn't want to say anything to get Guilmon on his parent's bad side, especially with how close the virus Digimon was.

After waiting a few seconds to see if his mom would reply, Takato shrugged, thinking that the conversation was over.

"Finally. I'm already running low on time to get to school." he said to himself, slightly annoyed at the constant interruptions.

* * *

After finally getting ready and eating breakfast, Takato and Guilmon headed out the front door as they began heading towards the school.

As they continued to walk along the sidewalk ignoring the stares the two of them were getting thanks to Guilmon's presence, Guilmon couldn't help but voice a concern that was on his mind since the morning.

"So, Takato…what am I gonna be doing while you're in school?"

"Same thing as always, Guilmon. You're gonna be spending some time inside that little park near the school building. Did you want to go someplace different?"

"No, I like that park! I just…"

Guilmon looked around him, seemingly acting like he didn't want anyone else to hear before leaning forwards near Takato's ear.

"Someone confused me for a big doggy once. I think that lady wanted to take me home."

"What? Why didn't you tell me before?" asked Takato, surprised to hear this kind of confession.

"I'm sorry, Takato! I hid from the lady when she looked away, and she must have thought I left. I thought she wasn't going to come back, but she did, and I had to hide every time!"

Guilmon quickly hopped in front of Takato, grabbing him by the shoulders as he began pleading.

"Please help me, Takato! That lady's weird, and I don't like her!"

"Okay, Guilmon! Calm down! I'll find you a new place to hang out."

"You promise?"

"Of course! What kind of friend would I be if I don't?" asked Takato, giving him a warm smile as he gently pushed Guilmon's claws off of him.

Guilmon was immediately relieved once he heard Takato's promise, releasing his grip on his Tamer as he turned forwards once again.

As for Takato, this new revelation proved to be a bit of a problem for him. Considering the fact that he was already cutting it close with getting to school, there was pretty much no way he was going to find a new place for Guilmon and not be incredibly late for school, so he tried his best to formulate an emergency plan in his mind.

Unfortunately, with the lack of time he had, Takato's best plan turned out to be his first plan. After quickly finding an empty box, he stuck it over Guilmon's head as the Digimon looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but under a cardboard box.

"Aww, do I have to be under this box again, Takato?"

"Well, if you would have told me earlier, I would have been able to think of a better plan. But right now, this is all we got."

Ignoring the groan from Guilmon, Takato quickly checked his watch and freaked out when he found out exactly what time it was.

"I'm late! Come on, Guilmon, let's go!"

Despite the restriction on Guilmon's movements thanks to the box on top of him, Guilmon was still able to keep up with Takato as the two of them rushed towards the school building.

* * *

When Takato finally managed to make it into his classroom after leaving Guilmon inside a janitor's closet on the same floor, he was surprised to find out that Ms. Asaji was not in class today (according to the substitute teacher, she wasn't feeling well), so somehow Takato managed to luck out and avoid getting in trouble for being late.

Takato was slightly distracted due to the fact that he hoped that the janitor wouldn't need to get into the closet while he was in class, but thankfully he didn't hear any loud yells coming from outside the classroom, so he took it to mean that no one managed to find him.

After class, Takato quickly rushed out of the room, failing to hear Kazu, Kenta and Jeri calling after him. However, the three of them were undeterred, though, as they managed to catch up to Takato just as he entered the janitor's closet, blocking his path.

"Takato? What are you doing inside the janitor's closet?" asked Kazu, looking unimpressed as he took in the sight of Takato dragging a large box.

"Um…nothing. What are you guys doing?" said Takato, whirling around to face the three of them as he quickly stood in front of the box, holding down the lid with his foot.

"Hey, don't send our questions back to us! We just want to know why you're running away so fast instead of walking with us like you usually do." said Kenta.

Takato quickly tried to think of an excuse, but before he could think for too long, Jeri spoke up.

"Hey Takato, what's inside that box you're carrying around?"

"Nothing! Nothing's in there, so you really don't have to worry about checking under there." said Takato, desperately trying to throw them off of the trail and get them to leave so that he could take Guilmon outside.

However, Kazu and Kenta weren't so easily fooled. Walking forwards, they dodged Takato's attempts to block their path and looked around the other end of the box, immediately noticing a large red tail poking out of the bottom.

"Wait a minute, I recognize that tail." said Kenta, quietly whispering to Kazu as the two of them studied said tail.

"Hey Guilmon, is that you?" asked Kazu, lightly nudging the box with his foot.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm under a box!"

Sighing in defeat, Takato pulled the box off of Guilmon temporarily, allowing the virus Digimon to stretch his legs out. Jeri quickly jogged over to the door, closing it and flipping the light switch so that the five of them could get some privacy.

"So Takato, would you mind explaining to me why Guilmon's hiding under a box in here?" asked Kazu.

"Well, um…it's kind of a long story."

"Don't worry. We can wait."

"OK, uh, did one of the others tell you about me bringing Guilmon to live at my house recently?"

"Well, no, to be honest. Kazu and I only saw Rika and Renamon recently, and I don't think Jeri's heard anything about it. Right?" said Kenta.

"Right. To be honest, I thought you would have told us earlier, Takato." said Jeri.

"Sorry, I guess I must have forgot. Anyway, Guilmon's been spending time at that small park nearby while I've been in school, but according to him, there was this lady who thought he was a dog and wanted to take him home."

"So…that doesn't really explain why you decided to bring him all the way in here." said Kazu.

"I didn't have time to find a new place, and I really didn't want to make a scene."

"Really. And dragging a huge box around the school with a six-foot tall lizard inside wasn't causing a scene?"

"Look, it was the best I could come up with on short notice, okay? I don't see you guys coming up with places he could go."

"Actually, there is a place he could go!" said Kenta.

"Really?"

"Yeah. MarineAngemon and Guardromon have been spending time at the main park while the two of us were here. Maybe Guilmon can join them!"

"That sounds great! How about you, boy? You wanna spend some time with them?"

"Yeah, that sounds amazing!"

"Great! How about starting tomorrow we all meet up at the park every day before school by Guilmon's old house?"

Both Takato and Guilmon nodded in affirmation, setting their new arrangement in stone.

"Now, how about we get you out of here? I'm sure someone outside noticed how long we've been here." said Takato towards Guilmon.

Guilmon groaned once again, unenthusiastic about the prospect of getting back under the box, but he didn't really get to argue much before everything around him went dark.

"Hey, you guys want to give me a hand sneaking him out of here?" asked Takato.

Rather than reply, Kazu, Kenta and Jeri took the three remaining sides of the box. With Takato leading the way, the four of them began leading Guilmon out of the closet and into the hallway.

* * *

Outside of some close calls with nearly running into a few teachers, the four Tamers were able to successfully get Guilmon out of the building without any real issues.

Once they were a safe distance away, Takato immediately pulled the box off of Guilmon as the virus Digimon spread his arms out wide.

"Ahh…fresh air!"

Takato lightly shook his head in amusement before he began following Kazu, Kenta and Jeri towards the park so that they could rejoin their Digimon. However, before they could get far, Takato suddenly noticed a figure heading towards them at a very quick pace.

"Wait, who's that over there?"

Takato shielded his eyes, squinting as he attempted to determine who was rushing towards them. By the time he did so, though, they were already close enough to the point that Takato could easily see who it was.

"Is that Rika? And Renamon?"

It looked to Takato like Rika was searching for something. When she spotted the five of them standing there, she quickly rushed over to meet them.

"Whoa, Rika, what's the rush? You look like someone's chasing after you!" said Kazu.

"Never mind that! I need your help. We've got a huge problem."

"What kind of problem?" asked Takato, confused.

"My grandmother's missing!"


	15. Chapter 15

"Wait, what?!"

Rika angrily stared at Kazu, annoyed at his sudden outburst.

"Weren't you listening, you idiot? My grandma…is…missing!"

"Hey, I was listening! I'm just confused."

Rika made a dismissive noise, as if to show how obvious Kazu's last comment was. However, before Kazu could start an argument, Takato decided to step in.

"Listen Rika, it's not that we don't believe you, but how could your grandmother just disappear without a trace? She's not exactly at that kind of age where she would be able to travel a lot."

Rika was about ready to yell at Takato for thinking that her grandmother was just like any other grandmother, but she knew that doing that would only waste valuable time that she didn't have, so she kept herself calm and collected as she relayed the information she had.

"Look, whenever I came home after running into those two over there, there was no sign of my grandma anywhere around the house." she said, pointing towards Kazu and Kenta as she spoke. "She's usually there to greet me whenever I get home, but only my mom was there. I asked her where she was, but she said she had no idea where she was."

"Maybe she didn't realize your grandma left. You know how she is." said Kenta.

"Don't talk about my mom like that!" yelled Rika.

Kenta immediately apologized, not wanting to earn Rika's wrath.

"Anyway, Renamon and I went back out pretty much immediately after I found out, and we spent most of the night looking around the city for her."

"Did you find anything to help?" asked Jeri, wanting to be involved in some fashion.

Rika didn't immediately answer Jeri's question, as what she managed to find out seemed way too outlandish for something of this nature.

"Come on, Rika. We're willing to help you out, but we can't do much without any information." said Takato, stepping forwards.

Rika sighed before finally deciding to answer.

"A Digimon has her."

The rest of the group fell silent, except for Kazu, who looked slightly annoyed as he spoke up.

"Really? A Digimon? You're just screwing with us, aren't you? What the heck makes you think that a Digimon would want to resort to kidnapping?"

Rika stared at Kazu for a few moments, angrily stewing before quickly making her way towards him intending to physically hurt him. However, before she could do so, she was physically restrained by both Takato and Renamon.

"Rika, stop! This isn't the time to fight with everyone!" said Takato.

"We're going to need everyone's help if we're going to find her, and fighting is just going to make things worse." said Renamon.

Rika struggled for a few moments, wanting desperately to wring Kazu's neck, but eventually she managed to calm herself down, and once she was finally released, she gave Kazu an angry glare before speaking.

"Renamon and I managed to run into a Digimon while we were out searching. We took him out without any problem, but when I asked him about where my grandmother was, but he didn't say anything."

"And what did that accomplish? It might as well have just been a random Digimon for all we knew." said Kenta.

"Well, whenever Rika asked the Digimon, he said that his master would kill him if he told us."

Both Kazu and Kenta looked unimpressed, feeling like they still weren't getting anywhere, but Takato suddenly realized something important after listening to what the two of them had to say.

"You know, I think we might actually have a lead here."

"Really?" asked Kazu, surprised.

"Well, I don't see anything." said Kenta dismissively, although he remained silent for the most part to allow Takato to speak.

"Okay, so while it's true that we're not really anywhere near close to finding Rika's grandmother, I think we might be able to get somewhere if we find out who this 'master' is. They might know something important. They might also be involved, too, so we should at least take that chance!"

Rika didn't immediately speak, as she was too busy thinking about what Takato had said.

"You know, Takato's right, Rika. Even if this lead is a bit of a long shot, it's worth checking it out." said Jeri, deciding to finally speak up after letting the others drive the conversation.

Jeri and the others watched Rika, waiting to see what she would think of their suggestions.

Once again, Rika didn't answer immediately because she was still unsure about what to do. Turning towards Renamon, she gave her partner a pleading look, as if to ask what she thought.

Renamon silently stared at Rika for a few moments, slightly surprised that Rika would be deferring to her opinion, before finally giving a curt nod.

Satisfied, Rika turned towards the others.

"Alright, I'll go along with your plan."

The others were about ready to celebrate, happy that they managed to convince Rika to follow along with them, but before they could do so, Rika held up a finger, signaling that she wasn't finished speaking.

"But…there is one problem with this plan that I can think of."

"And what would that be?" asked Kenta.

"We can't exactly bring that Fangmon that Renamon and I fought back to life to answer more questions, as I'm sure you're aware. Unless we can somehow find another Digimon that by sheer luck happens to work for this master, we're pretty much back to square one."

Kazu opened his mouth to make an argument, but then he soon realized that Rika did have a point. The Digimon that gave them their clue pretty much didn't exist anymore, so the only real way they could get more information was through what amounted to a miracle.

However, as Kazu looked around at the others, wondering if anyone had any other ideas to get them over the hump; he was surprised to find a bright look on Takato's face, almost as if he had an idea of his own.

"I think we do have another way to find out where this master is hiding."

"Really? What kind of 'way' are we talking about? I don't really follow." said Kazu.

"Hypnos."

"Wait, Hypnos?" asked Rika, surprised that Takato would go to them as an option. "What makes you think that Yamaki would be able to find a random Digimon that just happens to be the one who kidnapped my grandma? Besides, they could be anywhere. Heck, as much as I don't want to think about it, they might even be in the Digital World!"

"Yeah, Takato, that is kind of a stretch." pointed out Kazu.

"Well, we should at least try. Who knows? There might be a Digimon hiding out that we don't know about yet, and it could just so happen to be the exact one we're looking for."

"Takato does have a point, Rika. As I've said to you last night, our senses aren't foolproof." said Renamon. "Isn't that right, Guilmon?"

"I guess so. I've been pretty good at finding Digimon for a while, but I suppose there may be some I missed."

Despite Guilmon's vague answer, Rika decided that as much as getting Yamaki's help felt like a complete shot in the dark, she figured that it was worth trying it out.

"Alright. Let's go meet up with Henry and Terriermon before we go visit Hypnos. We could always use as much help as we could get."

Although Takato was slightly surprised to see Rika's eagerness for help, he was very much okay with Rika's new outlook.

Having gotten all of the information they could out of this meeting, the five tamers and four Digimon broke out of their huddle, heading towards the apartment building where they knew Henry and his sister lived.

* * *

Unfortunately, Henry and Terriermon weren't home, as they were greeted with Henry's parents, Suzie, and Lopmon when they came to the front door of their apartment.

However, after trading text messages with Henry, they were eventually able to find the two of them inside the shopping district aimlessly looking around at some of the products on sale.

Thankfully, Henry was more than willing to help after being filled in on Rika's predicament, so after him and Terriermon finished what they were doing, they joined the rest of the team as they headed towards the large skyscraper in the middle of the city that they knew housed the infamous Hypnos organization.

"So…remind me again why you think asking Yamaki is going to help find Rika's grandmother?" asked Henry as they continued walking.

"Well…they know whenever a Digimon bio-emerges, correct? So, as long as they still have a lock on any Digimon that we haven't already taken care of, we might have a chance to find the Digimon that has her!" said Takato.

"I'm not so sure, Takato. Admittedly I've never been in there myself, but from what my dad told me, they only really keep track of the plane between our world and the Digital World. That's where most Digimon go before they bio-emerge."

"I know, Henry, but what makes you think that they wouldn't have something that could keep tabs on Digimon that are already in our world? I mean, remember Juggernaut?"

"God, please don't remind me of that. I still have problems dealing with hearing all of those Digimon screaming in pain." said Henry.

The group fell silent as things became awkward once Takato brought up that infamous episode. In an attempt to move on, Takato cleared his throat before continuing to speak.

"Anyway, Juggernaut was easily able to find all of the Digimon hidden around the city and return a majority of them to the Digital World. I'd say that the odds are good that they might have something similar to that now."

Henry gave Takato a pointed look, forcing him to backtrack on his original statement.

"Um, I meant to say not to suck up all of the Digimon and forcibly send them back to the Digital World. I mean just find out where they are. Sorry."

"It's okay, Takato."

Both Takato and Henry fell silent once again just as they finally reached the Hypnos building.

"Ready to go in?" asked Rika, looking around at the rest of the group.

All of the Tamers looked pretty nervous, as none of them had really ever been inside where Yamaki worked, but instead of backing off, they all willingly stepped forwards, heading through the glass doors into the building.

* * *

Finding where the Hypnos headquarters were in the building turned out to be a little more difficult than the Tamers thought, as they were located inside just another normal office building. The large number of offices inside said building didn't help their case, either.

However, after some sleuthing, they were eventually able to find where the office was located. Before they went through, though, Takato realized something they probably should be doing.

"Hey guys, maybe you should stay out here for now." he said, looking towards Jeri, Kazu, Kenta and their Digimon.

Predictably, the three of them argued, but Takato attempted to try to explain himself.

"Look, I know you guys really want to help Rika as much as us, but I think having six kids and five Digimon burst into the Hypnos office all at once would probably cause a bit of a panic. I think just having the six of us is enough." he said as he gestured towards himself, Henry, Rika, and their Digimon.

Kazu sighed before speaking up.

"Alright. If it'll make you happy, we'll all head back outside. I'm sure us standing around in the middle of an office building would be just as disruptive."

"Um, that wouldn't be the way I'd put it, but yeah, I guess that would work." said Takato, slightly caught off guard by Kazu's tone.

After Kazu, Kenta, Jeri, Guardromon and MarineAngemon disappeared down the stairway, the remaining Tamers and Digimon were about to head through the door to meet Yamaki, but before they could even open the door, it opened on its own, revealing the man himself.

"What are you kids doing here?"


	16. Chapter 16

"Tell me what's going on now before I have security kick all of you out of here."

The suddenness of Yamaki's entrance ended up catching the three Tamers off guard, and they stood there stunned for a few moments before Yamaki started to get annoyed. Thankfully, Renamon realized what was going on, and she took the initiative to explain their presence.

"I apologize for our sudden visit, but we need your help."

"Help? What kind of help do you need from me?" asked Yamaki, curious.

Rika finally managed to pull herself out of her trance and spoke up.

"My grandmother's gone missing, and we have reason to believe that it might be a Digimon's doing. We were hoping that you had a way to scan the city for any Digimon hiding out."

Yamaki paused as he considered Rika's request.

"Look, as much as want to help you find your grandmother, I really don't have the time. We're still in the middle of trying to stem the tide of Digimon that are flooding through the breach."

All three of the Tamers made a move to argue, but Yamaki held up his hand to silence them.

"I do appreciate you three handling all of the Digimon that got through our attempts at blocking them, but please, we've got all we can handle on our plates right now."

Yamaki turned around and headed back through the door, but before he could close it, Takato immediately burst forwards, successfully catching the door and holding it open with a surprising amount of strength.

"What the heck are you doing?" asked Yamaki, surprised that Takato was doing something this reckless.

"I can't believe you, Yamaki. You really can't spare any time to help Rika find her grandmother? I mean, look at her! She's worried sick!" said Takato, sounding pretty angry.

Takato gestured towards Rika as he spoke; revealing that she was indeed looking pretty distraught knowing that their last hope at finding her grandmother was hanging by a thread.

Yamaki stared at Takato's seething face for a few moments, weighing his options in his mind before finally sighing in defeat.

"Fine. Come on in."

Yamaki released his grip on the door, nearly sending Takato into the wall from the force that the young Tamer had on said door. Thankfully, though, Takato was able to catch himself and release his grip, coming to a stop a few inches away.

Yamaki reluctantly backed away from his position inside the door frame, allowing Takato, Henry, Rika, and their Digimon passage into Hypnos's offices.

* * *

When the Tamers finally made their way into the main offices, they were struck by wonder as they looked around at all of the high-tech equipment.

"Whoa, this place is amazing!" said Henry, unable to help himself as he took a closer look at some of the equipment.

The others, meanwhile, chose to remain silent, instead simply taking in the sights. However, before long, they were interrupted when a voice came from high above them.

"Hey Yamaki, what are these kids doing here?"

Takato looked up, jumping when he realized that there was a large crane arm-like structure heading straight towards him. He quickly ran out of the way, narrowly managing to escape getting whacked on the head just as Riley jumped out of her seat, removing her goggles and tossing them on to her chair as she walked towards them.

"We've got a special job to do. I need a complete scan performed of the city and the surrounding areas for any and all suspicious Wild Ones."

"What?"

Yamaki's order caused Tally to come down from her seat as well, although she simply removed her goggles and gave Yamaki a surprised look instead of actually getting out of her seat.

"We can't do that and keep an eye on the breach at the same time!"

"Yeah, all of our resources have to be put towards the scan to be able to cover the entire area you're asking for. We'd be pretty much inviting the Wild Ones to invade our world!" said Riley.

"That's a risk we're gonna have to take. Her grandmother's missing, and there's a good chance a rogue Wild One has something to do with it."

Yamaki pointed towards Rika as he spoke, causing both Riley and Tally to stare at her for a moment, sizing the young Tamer up.

"No offense, but don't you think that would be a bit of a stretch? Our tech isn't exactly that advanced enough that it would be able to tell whether a Digimon is holding a hostage or not. Or heck, even what kind of Wild One they are." said Riley as she looked towards Rika.

"I mean, we've meant to upgrade our systems so that we can identify Wild Ones, but unfortunately that's not possible considering our funding's been cut." said Tally.

"I don't care. Any kind of information is worth it for finding her." said Rika, looking determined as she spoke.

Both Riley and Tally paused as they took in Rika's demeanor before finally retreating back to their seats, the two of them putting their goggles back on before raising their seats back into the air.

"Rerouting power to main grid."

The lights flickered temporarily as Riley spoke before they finally came back on as normal.

"Looks like we've got enough power to cover the entire city. Performing full scan now."

Tally quickly pressed a few buttons to set up the scan before she immediately pressed a larger button on her screen. The machine hummed to life for a few moments before immediately shutting off, catching all of the people in the room off guard.

"What's going on? I thought you two put enough power into the machine to perform the scan!" said Yamaki, his face lit up by the red 'System Error' labels on the screens around the room.

"We did! I don't know what happened!" said Riley.

"Well, find out!"

During the next few minutes, all the Tamers heard was furious sounds of typing over the blaring alarms. Thankfully, though, they were able to shut the alarm off before it got worse.

"There we go." said Tally as the room returned to its normal blue hue.

"So? What was the problem?" asked Yamaki.

"It turns out that there was some interference with the scanner. There's way too much data inside this room. The scanner couldn't handle the overload."

Yamaki paused to consider his options before suddenly realizing what exactly could have been broadcasting all of that data.

"Takato. You and your friends' Digimon need to leave. They're interfering with the scanner."

Even though Takato had a feeling that this was something that was going to happen, he still wasn't thrilled with the fact that Guilmon and the others had to leave. Still, if it meant being able to help Rika with her predicament, he knew that he had to do whatever was needed.

"Hey Guilmon? You and the others should probably be getting out of here."

"Aww…I wanted to help." said Guilmon, looking disappointed.

"Don't worry, boy. Once we find where Rika's grandmother is, we'll go over and kick that Digimon's butt, just like old times. What do you say?"

"Yeah!"

Guilmon definitely looked excited to be able to take on another Digimon, and Takato took it as a sign that he would be more willing to leave.

"Good. Now, go ahead and follow Renamon and Terriermon. I imagine that Henry and Rika must have told them already, but I want you three to go find Kazu and the others. They'll keep an eye on you until we're done. Okay?"

"Okay! Bye, Takato!"

Guilmon turned away from Takato and headed towards the door, slipping through between Terriermon and Renamon.

Once Renamon closed the door behind them, Yamaki waited a few moments for them to get a sufficient distance away before turning towards the girls.

"Alright, try the scan again. Hopefully they're far enough away so that they don't interfere."

Riley and Tally nodded before performing the startup sequence once more. Thankfully, this time the scan went off without a hitch. The Tamers watched as large dots popped up on the screen in front of them, signifying locations of Digimon.

"Scan successful."

Yamaki nodded before walking forwards, pointing towards the middle of the screen.

"Our scanner functions similarly to a radar. We're located right in the middle."

"Alright. Take a look on the screen, you guys, and speak up if you see anything suspicious." said Henry.

The room fell silent as the three Tamers closely scanned through the readings to see if there were any possible areas where the Digimon could be located. However, with the lack of any identification abilities, this made things difficult for them.

Thankfully, when it seemed like Takato was about ready to give up due to the lack of any clear suspicious readings, Rika suddenly spoke up.

"I think I found something!"

Takato's head whipped around towards Rika.

"You did? I don't see anything."

"Take a look at the top right."

Takato followed the direction that Rika was pointing towards and found a small group of dots near the edge of the scan area.

"You know, that does seem a little suspicious, don't you think?" asked Henry as he took a look at the area as well.

"Yeah, to be honest, it does. We've never really fought more than one Digimon at a time when we were in the real world, unless you count the Devas."

"Wait a second. You don't think-"

Takato looked over at Henry, who had a surprised look on his face as he processed Takato's offhanded comment.

"What? What do I think?" he asked, confused.

Henry turned towards Takato before replying.

"Could one of the Devas have done something like this? It definitely seems like something that they would have done."

"How? We destroyed most of the Devas…well, outside of Lopmon." said Rika.

"Well, you never know. It's possible that there might be someone inside the Digital World who might have recreated them or something."

"Well, that's just a massive shot in the dark." said Rika, scoffing.

Henry was about to try and defend his reasoning, but before he could do so, Takato stepped in between them.

"Look, let's not worry about who the Digimon is right now. Let's just focus on getting to that area first, alright?"

Henry and Rika glared at each other for a moment before Rika broke eye contact, sighing.

"Sorry Takato. I didn't mean to fly off the handle like that."

"It's fine. Anyway, let's just try and figure out where this area is in town."

Henry and Rika nodded before returning to focusing on the area where the large number of dots were. However, they didn't really need to do so, as while they were in the middle of their conversation, Yamaki and the girls managed to get the general coordinates of the exact area they were looking for.

"Those Wild Ones are on the outskirts of town about twenty to thirty minutes northeast of here. I don't know exactly what building they would be in, but judging from the amount of dots, I'd say it'd probably be a warehouse."

"Wow, thanks Yamaki." said Takato, surprised.

"Don't mention it. Now, please leave. We've already left the Digital World unguarded for way too long."

Takato, Rika and Henry left without an argument, heading out the door and shutting it behind them as they headed downstairs towards the front door of the office building.

* * *

Nobody spoke about their new findings until they finally came out of the building and found the rest of the Tamers hanging out across the street from the building, along with Guilmon, Terriermon and Renamon.

"So? What's the story?" asked Kazu, looking annoyed at having to wait so long.

Henry stepped forwards and recounted all of the information that they've learned.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Kenta.

Everyone looked prepared to go and start the rescue mission, but before they could get going, Takato suddenly noticed the darkening sky above them.

"Oh man, it's getting late. I didn't realize that we were in there that long."

There were some murmurs of disappointment throughout the group before Henry stepped forwards.

"Alright guys, let's all meet up after school tomorrow. Make sure you're all ready, though, because once we all get together, we're gonna head to the warehouse. That sound all right with you guys?"

Everyone thankfully agreed to Henry's plan, and they all went their separate ways to head back home for the night, the three original Tamers traded looks between each other.

"You sure it was alright not telling them about the possibility of it being a Deva?" asked Takato.

Henry sighed.

"I don't know. Frankly, I don't even feel safe letting them come with us even with the fact that we outnumber the dots that were in that area."

"Well, they do want to help. We can't exactly tell them 'No, it's too dangerous', you know." said Rika.

"I know. I just hope that we're not gonna run into a trap or anything."

The three of them traded looks once again before going their separate ways, hoping that the impending rescue mission was going to go well.


	17. Chapter 17

The school day was a complete blur for Takato. With the impending rescue mission on his mind, he could barely manage to pay attention to what was going on during class.

Thankfully, Ms. Asaji seemed to be in a good mood today, so she didn't get on Takato's case as much as usual. Still, she didn't seem too happy with him.

Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri were a different story, though. None of them had ever really done anything with their Digimon on this kind of level (except for Jeri). Both Kazu and Kenta clearly remembered standing on the sidelines most of the time they were in the Digital World, even after they partnered up with Guardromon and MarineAngemon.

The two of them really felt they needed to prove that they were just as capable of handling themselves compared to Takato, Henry and Rika, so when the group separated last night, they spent some time training with their Digimon. Despite the lack of real battle experience, Guardromon and MarineAngemon seemed like they would be able to handle themselves, although MarineAngemon's inability to talk made things a little difficult for Kenta.

Eventually, once Kazu and Kenta were satisfied, the Digimon were finally given a chance to rest. Unfortunately, though, they spent way longer than they originally planned outside, so they ended up getting to bed way later than they usually would have. The fact that they had to endure a lecture from their parents didn't help, either.

So, essentially, both Kazu and Kenta were suffering from a bit of a lack of sleep. Still, they were determined not to let this setback slow them down.

As for Jeri, even though she really wanted to help with the rescue mission, the fact that she didn't have a Digimon partner anymore made things tough for her, as she didn't have any way to defend herself when it came to battling whatever monster they were going to go up against.

It even got to the point where the other Tamers were lightly suggesting to her that it was too dangerous to go up against a possibly powerful Digimon without any real defenses. At first she remained firm in her desire to help out, but as the day wore on, she began to reconsider.

"I might just be a burden to everyone if I go. I can't protect myself from other Digimon, and the fact that the others have to make sure I don't get hurt…oh, I can't stand it!" she thought to herself as she sat in class.

As Jeri sat and stewed, Takato couldn't help but look back towards her, worried as he wondered just what her state of mind was at the moment. Takato involuntarily shivered as he remembered just what happened the last time she got this depressed.

Even though Takato really wanted to let her come along, they both knew exactly how dangerous this mission was going to become, and they couldn't afford to have any distractions if they wanted to have a chance to rescue Rika's grandmother.

As much as Takato really wanted to go over and comfort her in her time of need, the fact that class was still going on was only going to cause problems, so he remained in his seat, facing forwards as he attempted to listen to Ms. Asaji's lecture.

* * *

Eventually, the school bell rang for the end of the day. The four Tamers inside Ms. Asaji's class stood up, nodding to each other before heading out of the room.

As they all walked towards the front door to head to where Henry had told them they were to meet, Takato decided that this was the chance that he needed to finally set things straight with Jeri.

"You doing okay, Jeri?" asked Takato as he walked closer to her.

"Huh? Oh…I'm fine. Just nervous."

While it was true that Takato was nervous as well, he could clearly see the look on Jeri's face that told him something else was going on. Sighing, he dropped the friendly pretense and went right to business.

"Jeri, I-"

"Takato, please. I appreciate your concern, but I want to go. I don't think I'll be able to live with myself if I just go home, even if I don't have Leomon with me."

Takato was immediately caught off guard by Jeri's sudden interruption, especially considering the fact that she brought up Leomon on her own. Leomon was a bit of a touchy subject when it came to the Tamers as they didn't really want to have to bring up how he died. Even Impmon seemed to take it pretty hard as well, although to be honest, they haven't seen him since the Digimon initially had to return to the Digital World.

After taking a few moments to consider it, though, Takato sighed before giving Jeri a warm smile.

"Okay Jeri, if you want to come with us, I won't stop you."

Jeri nodded, returning Takato's smile before they rejoined the rest of the group.

Eventually, the four of them reached the meeting place, and after waiting for a bit, they were greeted by Henry, Rika, and all of the Digimon. Once the Digimon joined their partners, Henry stepped forwards, taking charge.

"Alright, is everyone ready? We're not going to have any more time to waste here."

Everyone nodded, and although Henry noticed the vague looks on Kazu and Kenta's faces, he decided that they appeared to be focused enough that they wouldn't become a detriment to the mission, so he began walking towards where the part of town the warehouse was, beckoning the others to join him.

"Come on, you guys. Let's go."

Everyone else traded looks between each other before they followed Henry, steeling themselves for the battle ahead as they walked.

* * *

Eventually, when it almost got to the point where everyone was starting to get tired from all of the walking, the warehouse district soon came into view, and the team sighed, relieved.

The only problem, however, was that there was a large number of warehouses in the district, and they all looked largely the same outside of some minor differences in structure, so that presented a problem to the Tamers.

"So…which one is it?" asked Kazu, trying to see if he could find a sign as to what warehouse they were looking for.

"There's tons of warehouses here! How the heck are we gonna find the right one?" asked Kenta, looking at the sea of warehouses in front of him in shock.

The group was silent as they registered the amount of warehouses that they were dealing with. Thankfully, though, Guilmon was there to pick up the slack.

"Um…maybe I could try and sniff them out? I'm sure I should be able to find the right one doing that."

"Great idea, boy!" said Takato, excited.

"Yeah, but don't dogs usually use some kind of item with someone's scent on it when they do this kind of thing?"

"Guilmon's not a dog, Kazu." said Rika, giving him an annoyed look.

"Uh…yeah. What she said." said Takato, slightly caught off guard by Rika's interjection.

"Anyway, let's just get going. We're already wasting enough time as it is. Guilmon, do you think you can find the right warehouse?" asked Henry.

Guilmon nodded.

"I think so."

Guilmon immediately bent down, sniffing the ground for a few seconds before immediately shooting off down the same road they were currently walking on. The rest of the group was forced to jog to keep up with the speedy virus Digimon.

* * *

At first, it seemed like Guilmon was leading them straight towards the right warehouse, but eventually Takato began to get a sense of deja-vu, considering he began to recognize the features of the road that they were currently on pretty well.

"Hey Guilmon, are you sure you know where you're going?"

Takato admittedly was pretty sure that they were running in circles at the moment, but he still felt the need to confirm it before things got really bad.

Guilmon, having heard Takato's question, came to a stop. Takato was unprepared for this to happen, so he nearly ended up crashing into his partner, but thankfully he was able to stop himself in time.

"Yeah, I do. It's right over there."

Takato looked to where Guilmon was pointing and saw some telltale signs that the warehouse they were looking at was pretty clearly being occupied.

"Looks like the ground's pretty torn up around that building over there. You think that might be our guy?" asked Henry as he stepped forwards, standing next to Takato.

"Yep. I can't really think of any other reason for that much damage, outside of maybe construction."

"Yeah, bad construction. Come on, let's go." said Rika.

Nodding, the Tamers and their Digimon rushed over to the warehouse in question; stopping once they all reached the large doors that signified the entrance.

"So, what's the plan? I'd rather not have to go in there and wing it." said Kenta, looking nervous.

"Easy. We go in there, kick the Digimon's butt, and bring my grandma home." said Rika, smacking her fist into her palm as she spoke.

"No Rika, that's not going to work! Rushing in there is just going to get us killed!" said Henry.

"Well, then what do we do? That Digimon deserves to be destroyed for what they did!"

"Don't worry, Rika, we'll destroy it. We just have to be a little more subtle about it." said Takato as he attempted to calm Rika down.

"And how would we do that?"

Takato didn't answer immediately, as he was a little taken aback by the intense stare Rika was giving him.

"Well, um…we still don't know what kind of Digimon is in there. All we need to do is sneak in, find out who we're facing, and strategize from there. Sound good?"

Rika stared at Takato for a few moments before sighing.

"Fine. Let's go."

Satisfied, Takato led the group to the doors, carefully pulling one of them open far enough so that everyone would be able to squeeze through without making too much noise.

Unfortunately, not everyone was able to get through completely silently, as Takato forgot to take Guardromon's size into account when he opened the door. As for Guardromon himself, he wasn't really paying attention to whether he would fit through, either, and the machine Digimon only ended up pushing the door further open with his body, eliciting a loud creak.

"Guardromon!" said Kazu quietly.

"Sorry, Kazu."

After Kazu's admonishment, the Tamers and Digimon listened carefully, hoping that the noise didn't give away their position.

"Looks like we're okay. Come on, they should be in here somewhere." said Henry, beckoning towards the others.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long for them to find what they were looking for, as there was a large empty space in the middle of the warehouse where it was pretty clear that Digimon were occupying it. However, it came as a surprise to Takato that there were actually more than one Digimon there.

Pulling out his D-Power, Takato decided to go ahead and scan the Digimon, hoping to get some kind of plan going after finding out some more information.

"Palmon, the Vegetation Digimon. Rookie Level. Its Poison Ivy attack is laced with a powerful toxin that can paralyze you pretty good." he said as he scanned the Digimon on the left.

"We'd better be careful around that one." said Henry.

Takato nodded in agreement before pointing his D-Power towards the Digimon on the right.

"Gotsumon, the Rock Digimon. Rookie Level as well. Its Rock Fist attack looks like it can hurl a bunch of rocks at you pretty quickly. Looks like he shouldn't be too much of an issue."

"You never know, Takato."

Takato sighed before moving his D-Power to the third and final Digimon in the room. However, when he took a good look at the Digimon that was in front of him, his jaw dropped in shock.

"Oh my god, is that-"

Henry paused, wondering exactly what Takato was talking about, but when the gogglehead pointed towards the big Digimon in the middle of the room, Henry soon realized just who they were dealing with.

"Vajramon?"


	18. Chapter 18

"Wait, who?"

Rika looked incredibly surprised to see who Takato and Henry were implying were there, but when she managed to get a good look at the Digimon in front of them, she soon realized just what they were dealing with.

"How? I thought we destroyed him! Twice!"

Neither Takato nor Henry answered, as they were too busy trying to register the fact that Vajramon, a Digimon that they managed to beat twice, and even destroy completely the second time, managed to still somehow be alive.

"This makes no sense. Digimon that are destroyed in the real world aren't supposed to come back. How did Vajramon, of all people, manage to come back?" asked Henry.

"Well…maybe that has something to do with him being a Deva. I guess they must have some kind of special power or something to beat that kind of drawback." said Takato.

"I can see your point, but I kind of doubt that, Takato."

"Well, it's not like any other reasoning would make any more sense."

"Will you two shut up?"

Both Henry and Takato winced, looking over to find Rika staring at the two of them, fuming. However, instead of starting to yell like the two of them expected her to do, she sighed before calmly speaking to them.

"Look, I want to find out why Vajramon's back just as much as you do, but this really isn't the time to argue. We really need to figure out a plan of attack of we're gonna have any chance of getting my grandma back safe."

Takato nodded, realizing that Rika was right.

"So…anyone have any ideas on how to take this guy down? Again?" he said, cringing when he realized this was the third time they had to deal with this Deva.

"Not really. Last time we fought him, I remember that we could only beat him once they Digivolved to Ultimate level." said Henry.

"Yeah, that's true. The only way we could get up to that level was with Calumon." said Rika.

"And unfortunately, Calumon's not here with us, so we have a bit of a problem."

"Thanks for the input, Kazu." said Rika sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm just trying to be part of the group here!"

"Alright Kazu, if it'll make you happy, what do you and Kenta think we should do?" asked Takato, wanting to hopefully defuse another argument.

Although Kazu was slightly surprised that Takato lumped Kenta into his statement, he turned towards his friend and the two of them conversed for a few moments before turning back towards everyone else.

"All we have to do is find Calumon and we're golden!" said Kenta, looking proud of himself for thinking of this plan.

"Are you kidding? We don't have time to go searching around the city for that little fuzzball!" yelled Rika, causing Kenta to immediately recoil from her volume.

Unfortunately, before Takato could get the chance to deal with yet another near argument, the shelving that they were hiding behind was sent flying.

After reacting to the wind from the sheer force of the flying shelving, Takato opened his eyes to find Vajramon and the other two Digimon staring right at them.

"Uh…hi." said Takato, nervously waving as he watched Vajramon stare at all of them angrily for a moment before smirking.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to see you all here again. I remember explicitly telling those stupid Fangmon not to tell anyone that I'm here."

"Well, to tell you the truth, Mr. Vajramon, sir, we only found out that a Digimon was here. We didn't know it was you until now."

"Oh, really? Well, it's good to see that they're at least good for something."

As Vajramon continued to speak, he backed away a few feet from the Tamers so that they would be able to speak without being so close together. As for Takato, he was too busy trying to keep himself composed despite the severe disadvantage they were at, but it was a losing battle.

However, before Takato could really say anything more, Rika suddenly spoke up from off to the side.

"Alright, you big dumb bull, I've had enough of this! Tell me where Seiko Hata is right now before Renamon and I stomp you into paste!" she said, pointing towards Renamon as she spoke.

Vajramon didn't fall for Rika's attempt at intimidation, though, as he simply scoffed.

"Did you really think your pathetic threats were going to scare me?"

"We've already beaten you twice, Vajramon. I don't know how you've managed to come back again after we clearly destroyed you last time, but it doesn't matter. We'll simply beat you a third time." said Renamon, a stern look on her face as she took in Vajramon in front of her.

Vajramon took in the sight of all of the Tamers and Digimon in the room attempting to look intimidating for a few moments before suddenly laughing out loud.

"Well, I see no reason to hide her from you any longer. Your human relative is right over there."

Vajramon pointed off towards the back wall of the warehouse as he spoke. Rika moved off to the side of the open area they were in to be able to see around Vajramon's bulky form, and when she finally got a clear view, she found that her grandmother was indeed lying on the floor right where the Deva said she was.

"Grandma!"

She attempted to rush over to where her grandma was, but before she could get far, Vajramon stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

"Oh no you don't! I'm not just going to give her back to you. You're going to have to finally destroy me once and for all if you want to have her back.

Rika glared at Vajramon for a few moments before finally speaking.

"Gladly. Renamon?"

"Right!"

Renamon attempted to rush forwards and start the fight, but before she could do so, she suddenly felt herself being held back by someone grabbing her arm. Looking back, she found exactly who was holding her back.

"Henry? What are you doing?" she asked, surprised.

Rika looked back, wondering what was taking Renamon so long when she found Henry holding her back. However, before she could yell at Henry to let her go, Henry held up a finger, telling Rika that he just wanted one more moment before they started fighting.

"Vajramon, before we start fighting, I just have one question I want to ask."

Vajramon stared at Henry for a few moments wondering whether he should agree to his request. Eventually, though, he relented.

"Fine. One question, and then I'll finally get to destroy you all!"

Henry paused, collecting his thoughts before finally asking his questions.

"Why? Why would you want to kidnap Rika's grandmother? She never did anything to you!"

"Oh, it's simple. I wanted to make things more interesting, especially now that the barriers between our worlds have been blown open once more!"

"That doesn't answer my question, Vajramon."

"Oh, fine. The only reason I had this feeble human kidnapped was for revenge."

Vajramon pointed towards Renamon as he continued on.

"You were the one who destroyed me the last time we fought. Once I was finally brought back, I wanted nothing more than to finally destroy you, and the only way I could get to you was by going through your Tamer. The easiest way to do that was to kidnap one of your relatives."

Vajramon grinned evilly as he watched Rika fume.

"You…monster. I can't believe that you would do something like this! You deserve to be destroyed for something like this!"

"Fine, have it your way. Terra Blade!"

Vajramon reared back, striking the ground in front of him with both his swords and his front hooves. The resulting shockwave sent most of the Tamers and Digimon flying, as they weren't exactly prepared for the Deva's sudden attack.

Luckily, though, the attack didn't cause any real lasting damage to anyone, so everyone managed to get up and quickly steel themselves for the fight ahead.

"Everyone, go! Take him down! We all attack at once, we might overwhelm him!" said Henry, taking charge of the battle strategies.

It was soon complete chaos, as the five Digimon gave it all they had, repeatedly attacking Vajramon with whatever they had in store.

"Pyro Sphere!"

"Guardian Barrage!"

"Diamond Storm!"

Those were just a few of the attacks that went the Deva's way. However, when the smoke cleared, the Tamers were shocked when Vajramon appeared once more, completely unhurt and chuckling evilly.

"Did you really think your weak little attacks will hurt me? Please. Now, let me show you real power! Deva Blade!"

The energy beam fired from Vajramon's twin swords flew towards the stunned Digimon, landing a direct hit before they could recover, sending them flying once more.

"Guilmon, no!" yelled Takato over the sound of the other Tamers panicking over how badly the fight was going so far.

Takato quickly grabbed his deck out of his pocket and shuffled through it, hoping to find something that would help with their situation. Unfortunately, though, as much as Takato didn't want to admit it, all of the buff cards he had wouldn't have made much of a difference.

However, to Takato's surprise, he suddenly noticed the warehouse's lights reflect off of one of the cards in his deck. Curious, he pulled said card out and found the telltale blue sheen of the infamous Blue Card.

"What the-? How did this get here?" he asked, confused.

Henry managed to pull himself away from trying to save Terriermon for a moment to find Takato deeply entranced by the blue card in front of him.

"Takato! What are you doing? You do realize that our Digimon are getting our butts handed to them right now, right?"

"Yeah, I know, but I just found the blue card in my deck. Maybe this might help." he said.

Henry soon noticed the slightly unfocused look on Takato's face, which definitely made him nervous considering it was probably something to do with Guilmon's current predicament.

As for the card, though, he quickly remembered the fact that they would only be able to get up to Champion level using the card, which while it would definitely help make the battle more even, it probably still wouldn't cause any real damage to the bull Deva.

"I guess it couldn't hurt, Takato. Hey, Rika!" he said.

"What? I'm kind of trying to prevent Renamon from being destroyed here!"

"Why don't we all try to Digivolve Renamon and the others? I know it's not going to help much, but at least we'll have a better chance."

"Well…I guess there's nothing wrong with trying that. You ready, Renamon?" she asked as Renamon landed a few feet in front of her.

Renamon simply nodded, and Rika took it as a sign that she was ready. As for Takato and Henry, they also made sure that their Digimon were ready before finally preparing to swipe the card.

"Digi-Modify! Digivolution activate!"

A white light engulfed the three Digimon in front of them as they finally began the process.

"Guilmon digivolve to…Growlmon!"

"Terriermon digivolve to…Gargomon!"

"Renamon digivolve to…Kyubimon!"

The battle was currently halted as the three Digimon digivolved into their Champion forms, Vajramon looking on with amusement before finally being unable to hold it in any longer.

"Ha! This is rich! You three seriously think that digivolving into Champion is going to make a difference?"

Vajramon began laughing for a few more moments before suddenly being interrupted by Takato, who stepped forwards, a stern look on his face.

"I realize that they still don't have the same kind of power that you do, being only Champions, but we still don't care. We're all going to give it all we've got to finally destroy you once and for all!" he said, his voice increasing into a yell as he spoke.

Vajramon simply chuckled once Takato was finished, before his expression turned into a sneer.

"I admire your bravery, human. Lord knows if any of the Devas ever had the kind of courage you had."

Vajramon then walked forwards, leaning down towards Takato so that the two of them were face to face.

"Still, I'm going to enjoy crushing you and your pathetic friends into dust."

Before Takato could react, Vajramon walked back to where he was originally standing, gesturing towards the newly evolved Digimon.

"Now, have at me!"


	19. Chapter 19

The battle lines were soon drawn, as Vajramon stood in front of Growlmon, Gargomon and Kyubimon, with Guardromon and MarineAngemon bringing up the rear.

Off to the side stood all of the Tamers, worried as they watched their Digimon take on another Digimon that still severely outclassed them in sheer power. However, to their surprise, none of the Digimon made a move to attack.

"Why aren't they fighting?" asked Takato as he leaned over towards Henry.

"I don't know. I guess they must be waiting to see who makes the first move."

"Well, that kind of ruined the mood."

"Takato! Not the time!"

Takato fell silent, slightly disappointed at the reaction to his attempting to lighten the mood. His focus soon returned back to the Digimon in front of him as he waited for the battle to truly begin.

They didn't have to wait long, though, as Vajramon soon began to grow impatient due to the lack of action.

"Enough of this. Deva Blade!"

Vajramon fired the X-shaped laser from his twin swords, but thankfully this time the others knew to dodge, and the attack flew harmlessly past them, tearing into a random shelving unit.

"Pyro Blaster!"

"Gargo Pellets!"

"Foxtail Inferno!"

All of the Champion Digimon fired their attacks at once, hoping that it would be able to do some damage. To their surprise, though, Vajramon simply stood there as the attacks hit their mark.

"Did that work?" asked Gargomon as he landed on his feet.

Gargomon's question soon got an answer, as when the smoke cleared, Vajramon still stood there, unhurt as he chuckled evilly.

"See? I told you digivolving to Champion level wasn't going to be enough to beat me! Terra Blade!"

Vajramon quickly stomped down on to the ground with all of his might, sending a large fissure towards the other Digimon. Luckily, they still managed to dodge the attack, but Vajramon continued to send repeated Terra Blade attacks towards them, forcing them to dodge repeatedly to the point that the three of them were starting to get tired.

"Takato, we're not going to last much longer out here!" yelled Growlmon as he concentrated on avoiding Vajramon's attacks.

"Yeah, I don't know if we're going to run out of ground first before we tire out or not!" quipped Gargomon.

"Come on, you guys! Get in there and help them!" yelled Kazu, catching Takato off guard, as he still wasn't used to him and Kenta taking a more active role in battle.

"Guardian Barrage!"

The ports on Guardromon's arms opened up, and he fired as many missiles as he could manage towards Vajramon, hoping that his input would be able to help. However, with him only being a Champion as well, Vajramon once again turned out unscathed. The attack did successfully manage to distract him, though, as the barrage of Terra Blades soon stopped. Unfortunately, though, this simply annoyed Vajramon, as he turned towards Guardromon, freaking the Digimon out as the Deva gave him an evil look.

"So, you want to save your puny little friends, huh? Well, I think you'll know what comes next. Die!"

Vajramon rushed forwards, intending to run Guardomon through with one of his swords.

"Guardromon, no! Get out of the way!" yelled Kazu, realizing that Guardromon was too scared to move.

Kyubimon, realizing that she was the only one who had a chance to beat Vajramon to Guardromon, quickly rushed forwards, intending to block Vajramon's strike before he had a chance to hurt the machine Digimon.

However, before she could even get there, Kyubimon saw another Digimon come forwards even faster than she could have managed to make the save.

"Phoo!"

Guardromon, his hands in front of his face in an attempt to shield himself from Vajramon's impending attack, paused as he soon realized that he wasn't already destroyed. When he lowered his hands, he soon realized that there was a large heart-shaped bubble surrounding him, as Vajramon's slashes were unable to get through.

"Why won't this blasted bubble break?" Vajramon yelled as he continued to slash, the Deva becoming increasingly angry as he attempted to break the shield.

"Way to go, MarineAngemon!" yelled Kenta as he celebrated making the save.

Kenta's celebration didn't last long, however, as he was soon interrupted by Takato placing his hands on Kenta's shoulders.

"Kenta, I've just realized something! Isn't MarineAngemon a Mega-level Digimon?"

"Well…yeah, but MarineAngemon's usually been a pacifist. I don't remember him ever using any offensive attacks before."

"Well, doesn't he know any?"

"I don't know. Hey MarineAngemon, try and see if you can attack Vajramon."

Thankfully, Vajramon was still too distracted in attempting to break through to Guardromon, so he didn't hear Kenta speaking to his partner. However, instead of immediately going over to attack the Deva, MarineAngemon simply gave Kenta a blank look.

"What? You don't know any? How?" asked Kenta, surprised.

MarineAngemon simply continued to stare at Kenta, causing the young Tamer to press his hands up against his face.

"I can't believe he doesn't know any offensive attacks." he said, his voice muffled through his hands.

"Don't worry, Kenta. He's still pretty useful for defense." said Takato in an attempt to cheer him up.

"Yeah, but MarineAngemon's the only one powerful enough to take on this guy. You guys still can't digivolve any further."

Takato looked back towards the battle as the other Digimon rushed forwards, intending to blind side Vajramon with some physical attacks while he was distracted with the bubble around Guardromon.

"I wish we could. Where are you, Calumon?" he said to himself as he watched the battle unfold.

* * *

As the Digimon continued to take on Vajramon in the middle of the warehouse, with explosions going off practically everywhere in the building, Jeri was off somewhere else in the warehouse, hiding behind one of the shelving units as she watched the battle continue on.

Even though Jeri continually said that she wanted to be involved in rescuing Rika's grandmother during the journey to the warehouse, she knew quite well that she was as good as dead without a partner to protect her, and she also didn't want to have to rely on the others to protect her as well, so she still felt the need to remain safe, which is why she snuck off as the battle began to get more intense.

"God, I wish I had someone to be my partner again. Leomon, why did you have to die on me?" she said to herself.

As much as she wanted to not dwell on the fact that her only real Digimon partner was essentially part of Impmon now, it was tough on her. Leomon was one of her best friends outside of the others, and that was saying something considering what kind of life she lived. Seeing Leomon die in front of her was like reliving the worst moments of her life, and she wanted nothing more than to never live again, at least until Takato and the others brought her back from the brink.

Still, it remained tough for her to look past that moment in her life when she looks beside her every day and realized that there was no one there to help her.

Jeri immediately looked away from the battle in front of her, unable to watch the carnage any longer. To her surprise, though, she soon noticed something else that was standing out from the darkness of the warehouse.

"Wait a minute, is that…"

Curious, Jeri walked towards the area where she noticed the odd object, and she soon found that there was a Palmon standing there, watching the battle just like Jeri was.

"That's the Palmon that was standing next to Vajramon! Why is he hiding all the way over here?"

Jeri briefly considered confronting the Palmon about his connections to Vajramon, but she soon realized that something was amiss when she noticed the look of fright on the Palmon's face.

Concerned, she decided she needed to do something, so she carefully walked towards the Palmon before placing a hand on the Digimon's shoulder.

"Aah! Poison Ivy!"

Frightened, the Palmon unleashed its Poison Ivy attack, nearly striking Jeri. Thankfully for Jeri's health, though, she successfully managed to get out of the way long enough for Palmon to soon realize what was going on.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

Jeri paused for a few moments, looking at the Palmon curiously for a bit before picking herself up off of the ground.

"No, I'm okay. I don't think that you hit me or anything."

Palmon released the breath that he was holding in, relieved that he didn't accidentally poison a human.

"So, what are you doing over here? I thought that you'd be fighting alongside Vajramon." asked Jeri, deciding to get right to the point.

Palmon looked away for a few moments, watching Vajramon battle the other Digimon before returning to Jeri, a stern look on his face.

"I'd never want to work with someone as mean as Vajramon is."

"What? Why? I saw you and that Gotsumon talking with Vajramon when we came in!" said Jeri, surprised.

"No, that was more like Vajramon was telling us what to do. Frankly, I'm tired of dealing with that meanie, but Gotsumon and I can't just leave him!"

"Why not?"

"Because he'd just destroy us without so much as a 'You're Fired'!"

The two of them soon fell silent, as Jeri tried to think about what she could do. Even though she still didn't completely trust the Palmon, the look of fear he had on his face told Jeri that something needed to be done.

"Well, why don't you come with me?" asked Jeri, a smile on her face as she spoke to the Palmon.

"What?"

"I'm serious! As you can see, we've got a huge group with us that's more than capable of protecting each other. If you're willing to come with us, I'm sure the others would be happy to bring you in and keep you safe from meanies like Vajramon. And hey, maybe we can become friends!"

"You'd really do that for me?" asked Palmon, his face lighting up in wonder as he looked at Jeri.

"Of course! What are friends for?"

Palmon continued to stare at Jeri in wonder for a few more moments before immediately rushing forwards, the two of them sharing a hug. To Jeri's surprise, though, as soon as the two of them embraced, a flash of light soon came from her pocket. Curious, she reached inside and pulled out her yellow D-Power, which to her shock looked like it was brand new.

"Wow. Does that mean we're partners now?" asked Palmon, having watched the battle long enough to get the idea.

"I guess so. Wow, I can't believe I have a partner again!"

Palmon noticed the fact that Jeri mentioned the word 'again' when she talked about getting her partner, but he decided that it was probably best not to pry.

So, with a renewed sense of vigor, Jeri stood up, ready to finally join the battle. However, she was soon caught off guard once again by a voice she didn't really expect to hear.

"Well, hi there, Mr. Leafy Guy! How are you doing?"

Jeri turned around, her mouth opening in shock as she saw Calumon himself shaking hands with Palmon.

"Calumon? What are you doing here?"

Calumon managed to tear his eyes away from Palmon for a few moments, his eyes lighting up when he saw who was in front of him.

"Jeri!"

Calumon quickly flew upwards, forcing Jeri to catch him as the two of them embraced.

"Wow Calumon, I can't believe you're here!"

"Yay, Jeri's here! Jeri's here!" said Calumon, as unfailingly cheerful as ever.

After finally managing to get over the shock of Calumon's sudden appearance, Jeri soon realized just what kind of stroke of luck they've gotten now that Calumon was here.

Jeri held her hands out in front of her, allowing Calumon to hop into her hands before finally telling the tiny Digimon just what was going on.

"This is perfect timing, Calumon, because we need your help!"

"You do?"

Calumon looked at Jeri curiously, forcing Jeri to turn Calumon around in her hands so that he could see what was going on.

"Whoa! That looks cool!"

"Calumon, please! You've got to help the others get to Ultimate level! That's the only way that they would be able to beat Vajramon!"

Jeri watched as Calumon pressed his little hand up against his cheek as he considered whether to help out.

"Okay! I'll help!"

"Really? Oh, thank you so much, Calumon!"

Calumon simply giggled before hopping off, heading towards the others.

Jeri stood there for a few moments, watching Calumon merrily hop towards the other Tamers before turning towards Palmon.

"Ready to take this guy down, Palmon?"

Palmon simply nodded, and as the two of them rushed to join the fray, Jeri quickly pulled out her deck of cards, having kept it inside her pocket as a reminder to never give up hope.

* * *

Unfortunately, the battle itself wasn't going too well for the Tamers, as despite the numbers advantage they held, Vajramon was still simply too powerful for them.

"This isn't good, you guys." said Henry as he watched Vajramon gain the advantage once again.

Both Takato and Rika remained silent, unable to watch as Growlmon and Kyubimon were easily outmatched by the Deva.

It almost was beginning to look like the Tamers and their Digimon were on their way to losing, but their luck soon began to change, as Takato soon felt something tugging on his pant leg.

Confused, Takato looked down, wondering what else was going to cause him problems when he soon noticed just who the one who was doing the deed was.

"Calumon!"

"Hi!" said the tiny Digimon, waving cheerfully as he stood next to Takato.

"Calumon, how did you get here?"

"I don't know. I was walking by when I heard all this noise inside here. I wanted to see what was going on, and that's when I found Jeri!"

Takato looked up and found that Jeri was indeed rushing over to rejoin them, but what was running next to her came as a surprise.

"Jeri, watch out! That's one of Vajramon's cronies!"

Takato made a move to protect Jeri, but to his surprise, Jeri held up her hands to block Takato from getting to her.

"Hang on, Palmon's with me now!"

Takato paused, trying to register just what Jeri said.

"What? What do you mean, with you?"

"Palmon and I are partners now! It turns out that him and Gotsumon were just being forced to work for Vajramon. So, I told him that we'd help keep him safe, and now we're partners."

"Wait, are you sure that Palmon just was saying that kind of stuff to get you to trust him? We can't trust him!"

"I do, Takato!"

Takato fell silent, surprised to see the look of determination on Jeri's face. Eventually, he nodded, understanding what was going through Jeri's mind.

"Alright Jeri, if you're willing to trust Palmon, then I have no reason not to trust him."

Jeri paused, her eyes widening as she processed Takato's seal of approval before finally smiling.

"Thanks, Takato. Now let's take this bull down!"

Takato nodded, smiling before looking down towards Calumon, who was looking at the scene in front of him with an air of curiosity.

"You ready to help us out, Calumon?"

"Ready!"

Calumon pumped his fists into the air a few times to get himself amped up before facing forwards. As for Takato, he turned towards Rika and Henry, who were too focused on the battle in front of them to have noticed what was going on.

"Hey Rika! Henry! Guess who's shown up?"

Henry looked back towards Takato, slightly annoyed at being forced to remove his focus from Gargomon's plight, only to realize just who Takato was talking about.

"Calumon?"

Rika also looked back, having heard what Henry said.

"Oh, thank god!"

The three main Tamers immediately faced forwards and called for their partners. While Growlmon, Gargomon and Kyubimon didn't look too good, they were still standing, which was a good sign.

"You guys ready to take this Deva down for good?" asked Takato, an air of determination in his voice.

The Digimon were slightly confused, wondering why Takato sounded so determined, when they soon noticed the presence of Calumon. However, instead of voicing their surprise, the three Digimon simply nodded, facing forwards once more.

"Does everyone have a blue card?" asked Henry as he looked towards not only Takato and Rika, but Kazu, Kenta and Jeri as well.

Surprisingly, despite not having ever been anywhere near a blue card, all three of them managed to find one with a quick search through their deck. They stared at the blue card for a few moments, entranced by the reflective surface before they finally pulled themselves away to focus on the task at hand.

"Ready!"

"Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution activate!" yelled all of the Tamers as they swiped their blue cards through their D-Powers.

"Growlmon Matrix Digivolve to…WarGrowlmon!"

"Gargomon Matrix Digivolve to…Rapidmon!"

"Kyubimon Matrix Digivolve to…Taomon!"

"Guardromon Matrix Digivolve to…Andromon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to…Togemon!"

The white light enveloping the Digimon lasted a little bit longer than it usually did, especially for Palmon, considering he had another form to go through.

"Togemon Matrix Digivolve to…Lillymon!"

Finally, the white light disappeared, revealing all of the Digimon (minus MarineAngemon) in their Ultimate forms, as they towered over the now frightened Vajramon.

"What? No! This can't be happening!"

"Let's take him down for good you guys! Attack!" yelled Takato.

All of the Digimon in the room fired their strongest attacks, a mess of missiles, petals, fire, and other things rapidly approaching the stunned Deva.

"No! No!"

The attacks soon met their mark, and Vajramon was successfully destroyed, his data floating into the air before finally disappearing.

"Did we win?" asked Kazu after shielding his eyes from the sheer brightness of the attacks.

Everyone else looked around and soon realized just how empty the warehouse was.

"Yeah, it looks like we did." said Takato, too stunned for it to fully register in his brain.

Eventually, though, the moment soon passed, and once the Digimon finally dedigivolved back to their normal forms, the Tamers rushed forward, embracing their partners as they celebrated their victory.

"You did awesome, you guys!" said Henry as he looked around at all of the Digimon in front of him.

The Tamers all gave their own form of congratulations before Renamon soon looked towards Rika.

"Rika, shouldn't you go check on your grandmother?"

"Oh, right!"

Rika quickly rushed over to where her grandmother was. Thankfully she appeared to be unhurt despite the sheer power of the Ultimate's attacks, and after a light shake from Rika, she soon woke up.

"What…what's going on?"

"Grandma, it's me! You're finally safe!" said Rika.

Rika's grandmother looked around the room for a few seconds in confusion before turning back towards her granddaughter.

"Is that creature finally gone?"

Rika simply nodded, and her grandmother sighed, relieved.

"Good."

Despite initially being worried that her ordeal would have affected her, Rika soon realized that her grandmother appeared to be acting just as she normally has even though she went through what most normal people probably wouldn't have gotten through without mental scars.

"We should probably get going, Rika. I'm sure our parents must be worried sick." said Henry, stepping forwards as he took in the reunion in front of him.

"Right. Are you going to be alright walking, grandma?"

Rika's grandmother nodded.

"I should be fine. That creature was a surprisingly well-behaved host, believe it or not."

Although Rika was pleasantly surprised to find that Vajramon didn't do anything bad to her grandma, she decided to take it as a good sign and just let that revelation go.

"Come on, you guys. Let's head home."

And so, with Calumon finally having shown himself, and Jeri finally getting herself a new partner in Palmon, the Tamers finally began heading home, ready to finally get back to a normal life, at least for now.


	20. Chapter 20

By the time the Tamers and their Digimon had managed to make it back to the city, it was already starting to get dark, so they didn't really have a whole lot of time to waste before their parents were going to start asking questions.

Jeri decided to go ahead and take Calumon with her, considering the tiny Digimon was pretty tuckered out after using so much of his power to help so many of the other Digimon get to Ultimate level, so as Takato watched Jeri walk off with Calumon, her new partner Palmon by her side, Takato couldn't help but smile as he turned towards Guilmon while the two of them were walking home.

"Man, I'm so glad Jeri managed to get a new partner. I hated having to see her not being able to do anything when we're all out having fun with you guys."

"Well, now she can have fun with Palmon." said Guilmon.

Takato shook his head in amusement as he listened to Guilmon point out the obvious.

"Come on, boy. Let's go home. Here's hoping my mom and dad aren't going to be too mad."

At this, Guilmon attempted to stifle a yawn with his paw, but it came through pretty clearly and caused Takato to chuckle.

"Sounds like you're pretty worn out yourself there. Tell you what. I'll let you get some sleep once we get home, and I'll bring you something. How's that?"

Guilmon nodded, excited as he had a general idea of what Takato might have had in mind.

"Yeah, that sounds amazing!"

Although Takato was initially worried that he may have gotten Guilmon too worked up to want to sleep, he soon noticed as they came up to the front door of the Matsuki family bakery that Guilmon was starting to nod off, and he smiled once more.

"Mom…Dad…I'm home!"

To his surprise, though, he didn't hear anything coming from inside the house.

"Hmm..that's strange."

After quickly sending Guilmon upstairs to get his nap in as he promised, Takato looked around the bakery and the house, thinking that they must be somewhere deeper inside.

Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be found, but luckily before Takato could begin to get worried that they were going to have to mobilize another rescue mission, he soon found a piece of paper on the dinner table.

Curious, he picked it up and noticed that it was a note written in what Takato recognized as his mom's handwriting.

_Takato,_

_I never really got a chance to mention it to you since we were so busy running the shop today, but your dad and I are going out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. There are some leftovers inside the fridge, but if you wanted to go out and get something yourself, I left you some money on the table. There's even a little bit extra for Guilmon if you would like._

Takato couldn't help but notice the erase marks all around the last sentence. While he was admittedly a little disappointed that his mom still wasn't comfortable around Guilmon, he knew it wasn't really his place to try to change that, so he decided to just continue reading.

_Anyway, we're probably going to be gone by the time you get home from wherever it is you kids are,_

"You don't know the half of it." Takato thought as he continued reading.

_so have a good night, and we'll see you in the morning._

_Love, Mom and Dad_

Takato immediately dropped the note back on to the table where he found it, relieved that his parents were still okay. With all that's been happening recently, Takato completely forgot about the fact that today was his parents' anniversary. Still, it was nice to have some free time to himself for once.

Takato looked over on the table and noticed that there was indeed some money as his mom promised. He initially just considered taking the money and running back out, but with how tired he was after the successful rescue mission, he decided just to check out the fridge and see if there was anything good to eat. Plus, there was also the fact that he didn't really want to leave Guilmon or make him get up so soon after going to sleep.

Takato walked over to the fridge and pulled the door open, scanning through what was inside to see if there was anything good.

Unfortunately, the only thing that would even remotely be filling in the fridge was some rice inside a takeout container, no doubt being left aside in favor of what else that his parents must have brought home that day.

Takato admittedly considered just giving up and heading back out to get something, but he didn't really want to worry Guilmon by not being here whenever he woke up, so he decided just to grin and bear it.

Groaning, Takato pulled the container out of the fridge, grabbing a bowl as he transferred the contents into said bowl. However, after giving it some thought, Takato reconsidered just eating the rice as is, so he began searching through some of the other cabinets, thinking that he might find some other things to help spice the admittedly drab meal up.

"Oh cool, I didn't realize Mom bought of this stuff." said Takato to himself as he pulled out a bottle of hot sauce.

Now, Takato knew quite well that he wasn't exactly the most durable person when it came to eating stuff with hot sauce. In fact, he remembered one time when Kazu and Kenta made fun of him for being such a lightweight when they saw him struggle to eat some lunch at school that was covered in the sauce.

Still, as much as Takato wanted just to try and find something else, he found that there wasn't really anything in the cabinets that would actually go well on rice, so he decided just to go ahead and risk it.

Anyway, after heating up the rice in the microwave, Takato decided to go light on the sauce and pour a couple of splotches of it on the rice.

Takato soon sat down at the dinner table, staring at the bowl of rice in front of him nervously for a moment before picking up his chopsticks and digging in.

At first, it was a struggle for Takato, as he predicted. The hot sauce still managed to come off pretty strong, and Takato ended up having to pour himself a glass of water to relieve the burning in his mouth. Eventually, though, Takato soon got used to the sensation, and he soon began shoveling the rice into his mouth, surprising even himself.

"Man, that rescue mission must have made me really hungry. Guess all that energy I spent out there didn't help." Takato thought as he continued to eat.

Soon enough, Takato finished off the last of the rice, and he let out a breath of relief as he finally placed the bowl back on to the table.

"Phew. Glad that's over."

Unfortunately, after finishing off his glass of water to relieve some of the burning taste in his mouth, Takato soon realized that it was still pretty early in the evening. While he did still have school tomorrow, he still had more than enough free time before he had to go to bed for the night.

Before he could really consider what to do, though, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from by the front door. At first, he began to think that his parents were suddenly home without any warning, but after remembering his mom mentioning the fact they weren't going to be home before he actually went to bed, he soon realized just as he came into the room that it was Guilmon, who still looked pretty bleary-eyed but functional all the same.

"Hey there, boy! How'd your nap go?"

"It was fine." said Guilmon. "I woke up, though, and I didn't see you upstairs with me."

Takato wondered what Guilmon was talking about for a moment before he soon realized just what it was.

"Oh, that's right! Sorry Guilmon, I forgot."

As Guilmon looked on curiously, finally fully awake, Takato rushed over into the bakery, quickly scanning through some of the remaining already made bread before finally picking one out. After returning to the kitchen with the bread in tow, Takato began digging through the cabinets, eventually pulling out a jar of peanut butter and spreading it all over the top of the bread.

Finally, after cleaning the knife off and sticking it into the sink, Takato walked into the family room again and handed the bread over to Guilmon, smiling as he watched his partner stare at the bread in wonder.

"Here you go, Guilmon. My present to you for a successful rescue mission."

Admittedly, Takato was just doing it to give Guilmon something to eat, but he decided that adding that special caveat would help make the meal that much more special.

"Wow! Thanks, Takato!"

Guilmon immediately wolfed down the bread without thinking. A few seconds later, though, he soon realized that there was no bread left, and he sighed, disappointed.

"It's okay, buddy. I'm sure that bread was good while it lasted." said Takato as he patted Guilmon on the shoulder.

"Aww…but I wanted to savor it!"

Takato admittedly thought about pointing out to Guilmon that he should have slowed down his eating, the sheer look of disappointment on the Digimon's face made him reconsider saying so, and he decided to try something else.

"Tell you what. I'll let you have another one of them, just this once."

Guilmon's eyes lit up, but before he could say anything more, Takato held up a finger to silence him.

"You have to promise me one thing, though."

"Okay, what?" asked Guilmon as he stared at the finger in front of his face, going slightly cross-eyed.

"I'll help you to not eat the bread all at once, but all I'm asking is that you don't try to steal the bread from me, okay?"

Guilmon nodded vigorously, only having half-listened to Takato's request as he was still too busy staring at Takato's finger while at the same time wishing he still had another one of those loaves of bread with peanut butter on them in his hand right now.

Takato ran into the bakery once more, hoping that his parents wouldn't notice the two missing loaves of bread as he grabbed another one of the same type he grabbed last time. After spreading the peanut butter on it and cleaning off the knife once more, Takato walked over and was about to split the bread in half when Guilmon made an attempt to snatch the bread away from him.

"Guilmon, no. Remember your promise." chided Takato.

"Aww…"

Takato watched Guilmon for a few seconds to make sure he wasn't going to try it again, but when the Digimon remained standing where he was, Takato finished off splitting the bread before handing one of the halves to Guilmon, who at first opened his mouth wide to shove the whole thing in.

However, when Guilmon noticed the look that Takato was giving him, the Digimon soon reconsidered his actions, and he split the bread once more in his hands, popping one of the quarters in his mouth as he savored the taste.

As Takato watched Guilmon slowly eat the bread he had in his hands, sounds of pleasure coming from his partner, he couldn't help but smile as he handed the other half to him.

Eventually, Guilmon successfully managed to finish the rest of the bread.

"So…how was that, Guilmon?"

"Oh, it was so good! I'm so glad I ate it slower!" said Guilmon, pressing his paws up to his cheeks as his eyes lit up.

Takato smiled once more, happy that Guilmon was satisfied. After checking the clock, though, he soon realized that it was getting pretty late.

"Hey, what do you say we get an early night's sleep in? I'd say we deserve it after the butt kicking we gave Vajramon. Right, boy?"

Even though Guilmon had just recently got up from his nap, he willingly agreed to go up with Takato despite it not being Takato's normal time to go to bed.

As for Takato himself, he was still pretty worn out from the battle, so he was more than happy to go to bed. So, after Takato got himself ready for bed, he hopped under his covers while Guilmon curled up on the floor in front of him, both of them satisfied that the battle against the breach seemed to finally be going their way for once.


	21. Chapter 21

The school day came and went without any real incidents, outside of Kazu and Kenta getting yelled at for sleeping through class. Still, even though Takato was a little disappointed that the two of them haven't really taken the chance to catch up on sleep, he couldn't blame them, especially after what they just went through yesterday.

Anyway, after they were finally all let out of class, Takato and the others went over to the park to meet up with their Digimon before they finally went their separate ways to spend some quality time together. It even went double with Jeri, though, as both she and Palmon were still technically getting to know each other.

As for Takato himself, he decided to spend some time walking around with Guilmon by his side. However, he wasn't able to get too far before he suddenly noticed Henry walking towards him, Terriermon on his shoulder.

"Henry? What are you doing here?" he asked as soon as Henry got close enough to hear him.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second? Privately?"

Takato, confused, looked towards Guilmon for a moment, thinking that Henry meant that he wanted to talk away from his partner. However, just as he was about to tell Henry that Guilmon could stay, Henry suddenly shook his head when he realized what Takato was trying to say.

"No, I meant away from everyone else around here!"

"Oh! Right." said Takato, looking around and realizing that there were quite a few people around.

The four of them soon began walking through the city, eventually coming upon an alley next to a restaurant, which Takato ended up having to pull Guilmon away from before the Digimon could go in and ransack the place.

"So…what's with the secrecy?" asked Takato, curious as he watched Henry scan through the alley to make sure no one was around.

"Seriously, Takato? Do you really think us talking in public about this kind of subject would be a good idea?" he asked, gesturing towards the two Digimon as he gave Takato a weird look.

"Hey, I was just wondering! Can't a guy be curious for some time in his life?"

Henry paused, about ready to argue Takato's point before he suddenly sighed.

"Sorry, Takato. I guess I've been a bit anxious recently."

"How so?"

Henry paused, watching for anyone listening in before he finally explained himself.

"You know, ever since we destroyed Vajramon last night, I've been thinking. We never actually found out how he was brought back to life, didn't we?"

Takato's eyes widened in surprise, as he suddenly realized that Henry was right.

"I didn't realize that! I guess we must have forgotten about it."

"Yeah, I did too. The battle was so intense that I imagine most anyone would have forgotten something important like we did."

"Okay, so…does this mean that you've found out how?" asked Takato, looking expectantly at Henry, only to see him shake his head.

"Terriermon and I were discussing all of the possible solutions that we could think of, but none of them really make any sense in the long run. I mean, we've seen firsthand that anytime a Digimon is destroyed in our world, they don't come back as a Digiegg. They're completely gone."

"Well, I imagine that's just because of one of us absorbing their data. What if no one does? What happens to it?" asked Takato.

"What does that have to do with anything? I'm pretty sure that it doesn't make a huge difference."

Takato was admittedly unsure of where he was going with this train of thought, either, but since he started it, he decided he was just going to roll with it and hope Henry understood.

"Think of it this way. Do you remember last night when we destroyed Vajramon, and we just let his data go?"

Henry nodded, clearly remembering what happened.

"Anyway, if data like that doesn't exactly have a place to go, like through wires, where does it go?"

Henry paused, trying to process what Takato said.

"Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"No, I'm not following. What you've just said sounded way too philosophical for me, and I take Tai Chi."

"Okay, that's fine. I wasn't expecting you to, anyway. Frankly, I didn't really know how to explain it myself."

"Then why did you even bother?" asked Henry, annoyed.

Takato simply shrugged, forcing Henry to groan in exasperation.

"Look Takato, I appreciate the input, but I think we should probably get everyone else together and figure it out as a group. Heck, maybe one of the other Digimon might have an idea."

"Wait…what if it has something to do with the Digital World?" asked Takato.

Henry was slightly baffled by Takato's sudden leap in logic, but he soon realized that Takato may be going somewhere. He paused for a moment, running different possible scenarios through his head before finally turning towards Takato.

"I'm impressed, Takato. Your massive leap in logic has somehow gotten us to the most plausible answer. The only problem, though, is what the Digital World has to do with Vajramon's resurrection."

Takato was pretty surprised that he somehow managed to land at the supposedly correct answer despite completely guessing at the answer, but he soon smiled when he realized that they were finally getting somewhere.

Takato paused as he considered what Henry asked, but he soon realized that he had absolutely no idea how the Digital World and Vajramon's resurrection tied together.

"You know, I think maybe it is a good idea to bring everyone else. Hopefully they'd have a better idea."

"Okay, that sounds good to me. Do you think we should just call everyone and get this over with?" asked Henry as he held up his phone.

"Nah, let's do it tomorrow. I think we all could really use some time to rest, especially after what we've just been through over the past week or so. Besides, this'll give some time to think about it."

"Can't argue with that. I'll let you know about the meeting later, alright?"

"Sure thing." said Takato, nodding.

Once their conversation was over, both Takato and Henry came back out into the busy street, heading their separate ways as they prepared to finally spend the day with their partners free from any outstanding obligations.

* * *

As Henry walked down the street, he felt Terriermon's weight leave his shoulder, only for it to suddenly appear on his head.

He looked up curiously at Terriermon as the bunny Digimon rested on top of Henry's head.

"Any reason for the change of position there, Terriermon?"

"Eh, no reason. Just wanted to lie down for a bit, and your head has so much more room."

"So when did my head suddenly become prime real estate?"

Terriermon simply shrugged, flopping down on Henry's head as Henry rolled his eyes, deciding to continue on before something else went wrong.

Soon enough, after a little bit more time spent walking, Terriermon soon grew bored, and he decided to strike up a bit of a conversation.

"So Henry, where are we headed? You seem like you have somewhere you need to go."

Henry looked up at Terriermon, only to realize that the Digimon's long ears were right in front of his face. Thankfully, Henry had quickly stopped moving a few seconds before he ended up running into something.

After brushing Terriermon's ears out of the way, he soon noticed that there was a man in a business suit in front of him, and he looked pretty harried.

After muttering a quick apology, Henry moved around the businessman before continuing on his way.

"Watch it with the ears, Terriermon. I almost ran into that guy because I couldn't see."

"Okay, fine. I'll make sure to keep them back."

As much as Henry wanted to go along with Terriermon's apology and let him continue to lounge up there, he really didn't want to risk the Digimon's ears coming down again, especially considering the amount of people that were on the streets, so he quickly gave his head a small shake forwards.

"Woah!"

Terriermon was definitely not expecting to be jostled by Henry, so the bunny Digimon quite easily rolled off of Henry's head. Thankfully, though, Henry managed to catch Terriermon in his arms, so he was largely unhurt.

"Hey, what was that for? I told you I was going to keep my ears back!"

"I know, Terriermon. There's just too many people out on the streets for me not to be able to see where I'm going. I promise next time we go out and the sidewalks are clear, you can ride up there. Okay?"

Terriermon pouted but he said nothing, leaving Henry to take it as a fact that he understood.

"And by the way, we're heading over to Rika's house."

"Really?"

Terriermon looked up at Henry, and the look on the Digimon's face made Henry really want to just drop him and leave him behind, but he held his ground.

"It's nothing like that! I just wanted to check up on her and see how her grandmother was doing."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about her! I hope she's doing alright." said Terriermon, looking slightly worried as he wondered whether the ordeal that she went through wasn't going to cause any lasting damage.

"Oh no, she's doing fine last I've heard. Rika told me this morning. Her mother's pretty freaked out about everything, though.

"Well, who wouldn't be when you're kidnapped by an 800 pound ox?"

"You knew his weight?" asked Henry, surprised.

"No, I'm just guessing! He did seem pretty heavy, though." said Terriermon, his voice trailing off as he spoke.

"Well, either way, I'm at least glad that we don't have to deal with him anymore."

"Yeah, but what about the others?" asked Terriermon, catching Henry off guard.

"What do you mean others?"

"You know, the Devas! What are the chances that now that we've seen Vajramon come back, that the others might come back as well?"

Terriermon had already turned his head to face forwards before he spoke that last sentence, so when he didn't hear an answer, he was slightly confused.

"Henry? You okay, buddy?"

Terriermon attempted to twist his head around to see what Henry was doing, but the shocked expression on his face made Terriermon realize that something was up.

"Henry?"


	22. Chapter 22

"Helloooo…Henry, you still in there?"

By this point Terriermon was beginning to get a little worried that something may have snapped in Henry's mind, but thankfully Henry was able to pull himself together soon after and looked down at his partner as they continued walking.

"Sorry about that, Terriermon. I just…didn't realize that there was a possibility that any of the other Devas could come back."

"You didn't? I kind of thought it would be a given considering Vajramon came back without any explanation."

"Well, can you blame me? I was kind of in the middle of making sure you weren't going to be destroyed on me."

Terriermon let out a small smile on his face as he felt good about Henry's willingness to protect him, but that smile soon disappeared when they went back to the business at hand.

"So, what are we going to do about it?"

"About what?" asked Henry.

"Taking these guys down! Now that Calumon's back with us, we can stomp these guys no problem!"

"I'm sure we could, but we would still have to find them first."

Terriermon opened his mouth to retort before suddenly realizing that Henry was right.

"Oh yeah, that's true. They might not even be in the Real World either, now that I think about it."

The two of them fell silent as they continued walking down the sidewalk.

"Say, do you think we can try to convince Yamaki to pull off another one of those scan thingies he did when we found Vajramon? Maybe we can use that to see if there are any other Devas around."

Henry paused, slightly caught off guard by Terriermon's question.

"I highly doubt it."

"Oh come on! I'm sure one of you guys would be able to pull it off!" said Terriermon, plastering on a fake smile in an attempt to convince Henry of his plan being able to work.

"Terriermon, I really don't think Yamaki would be interested in using all of the power that he's invested in monitoring the breach to go on what pretty much amounts to a wild goose chase. Besides, you've said it yourself! There might not even be any Devas in our world right now."

"But I'm pretty sure there will be some in the future."

"True, but we'll deal with that issue when it comes, alright?"

Terriermon sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to be able to change Henry's mind at this point.

"Alright…"

The two of them once again fell silent, but before long Terriermon felt the need to break the awkward silence that pervaded between the two of them, the Digimon choosing to speak after Henry made a turn on to another street.

"So, are we still heading over to Rika's?"

"That's the plan. Why? Did you want to go somewhere else?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure that we're still heading there. You seemed a little out of it a few minutes ago."

"Hey! I was stopped!"

"Still…I was a little worried that you were just going to start flying in a completely different direction."

Henry sighed, choosing to remain silent, although he was still appreciative of Terriermon's dedication to his well-being.

* * *

Eventually, Henry and Terriermon turned on to the street where Rika's house was, but to their surprise, they found Rika and Renamon heading right towards them.

"Hey guys. You two headed off somewhere?" Henry asked, slightly confused.

"Nowhere special. My mom's being kind of overbearing right now, especially with how I was acting after my grandma went missing, so I just needed some space."

Henry could admittedly see where Rika was going with this, although he was a little disappointed as well, considering it looked like Rika and her mother were actually starting to get along a little better as time went on after the D-Reaper battle.

"Oh, speaking of, how is your grandmother doing?"

"Fine, actually."

Rika quickly glanced back towards her house for a moment before leaning towards Henry, her hand next to her mouth in a gesture that showed that she didn't want anyone else to hear what she had to say.

"To be honest, I was a little worried that I'd have to deal with some lingering stress from what she went through, but she's looking completely normal, like nothing had ever happened."

"Wow, that's…surprising." said Henry.

"You don't know the half of it. As for my mom, she almost never left my grandma's side since Renamon and I brought her back, at least when she wasn't busy with work. As I'm sure you can imagine, though, that got annoying when I wanted to ask her something privately."

"So, I'm guessing that's why you two are out here?"

"Something like that."

Rika and Renamon began walking again, making their way around Henry and Terriermon, but before they could get far, Henry called out to them.

"Hey, Rika! You mind if Terriermon and I walk with you two for a bit?"

"Why?"

Although Henry was a bit taken aback by the question, he already had an answer prepared.

"Because there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Rika was certainly curious about what else Henry had to say, so after trading looks with Renamon, she reluctantly agreed to let him walk with them.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk about?" asked Rika, wanting to get this over with so that they could be left alone.

Henry sighed, briefly considering how to bring up the subject he was thinking about before he finally spoke up.

"Have you ever wondered how Vajramon managed to come back to life even though we already destroyed him back then?"

Rika stared at him, confused as she wondered what the heck Henry was thinking.

"No, not really. I was more concerned with getting my grandmother back from that giant bull."

"What about now? We never got a straight answer from Vajramon about how he came back."

"Isn't this speculation more Takato's thing? Maybe you should talk to him about it." said Rika, slightly annoyed.

"I already talked to him about it, although admittedly he was the one that brought it up first. I just wanted to get your opinion on it."

Rika sighed, realizing that she probably wasn't going to be able to chase Henry away.

"You know, you and Takato really drive me crazy sometimes."

Henry simply rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore Rika's comment as she began speaking to Renamon. Unfortunately, they were speaking very quietly, so Henry wasn't really able to hear what they were talking about, even with Terriermon's big ears.

Eventually, though, the two of them separated, and they quickly walked back to where Henry and Terriermon were standing, ready to speak.

"After careful consideration, we've determined that it's most likely that the reason for Vajramon's reappearance must have something to do with the Digital World." said Renamon.

"Yeah, Takato and I managed to figure that out ourselves. The only problem is that we have no idea how they tie together."

"Well, maybe you can talk to Lopmon. She might know something about what's happening."

"What?"

Henry was honestly unsure how Lopmon would be able to help with their predicament, but thankfully Rika was there to explain after a sigh of exasperation.

"Lopmon was a former Deva, remember? I'm sure she'd have an idea of what's going on."

"You're right! I can't believe I forgot about that!" said Henry, his eyes widening in realization.

Rika huffed, intending to make a snarky comment about Henry forgetting things, but before she could do so, Henry immediately rushed off, waving towards Rika and Renamon as they left.

"Thanks for the help, Rika! I have to go talk to Lopmon!"

Both Rika and Renamon stared at the retreating forms of Henry and Terriermon in confusion before Rika simply shrugged and continued walking. However, Renamon was still a little curious as to what was going on with Henry.

"Rika, do you think maybe we should go after him? I'm pretty sure whatever Lopmon says would be important to finding out what's going on with the barrier between our worlds."

Rika briefly considered agreeing with Renamon's proposition and going after Henry, but she soon changed her mind, not wanting to waste the valuable free time she had.

"Nah. I'm sure he'll let us know soon enough anyway."

Renamon briefly stopped walking, staring in puzzlement at Rika's still moving form before realizing that what Rika said was true. Although she was still curious to find out what Lopmon had to say about Vajramon's resurrection, she willingly followed Rika as the two of them continued on down the sidewalk.

* * *

After a while, Henry and Terriermon found themselves back in their apartment, having returned there after checking to make sure that Suzie was indeed home.

As for Suzie herself, she and Lopmon were busy playing on the floor in front of the couch, or I should say Suzie had Lopmon in a dress as they were playing Princess Pretty Pants, and Lopmon did not look too happy about that face. Unfortunately, Lopmon was too polite to show her disapproval for the current situation she was in, so she chose to simply grin and bear it.

Thankfully, Henry was there to make the save, as he walked over and kneeled down to get down to Suzie's eye level.

"Hey Suzie, where's Mom and Dad?" he asked, as he had realized that they weren't anywhere around which concerned him a bit.

Suzie paused for a moment as she tried to remember exactly what was said to her about their parents' whereabouts.

"Oh! Daddy said that he was going out to get some food for us! I think Mommy's still away with her job."

"And Dad left you here?"

"Yes, but that was after you called and said you were coming home!"

Henry was a little more relieved now that he knew that Suzie wasn't left alone without anyone besides Lopmon to keep her company. This allowed him to finally move on and ask what he was originally planning to ask.

"Hey, would you mind if I spoke with Lopmon for a few minutes?"

"OK."

Despite her quick agreement, Suzie made no move to hand Lopmon over, so Henry felt that he had to elaborate a bit.

"Can I speak to her privately?"

After hearing Henry's more understandable question, Suzie was a little apprehensive about giving up Lopmon, however temporarily. Eventually, though, she handed Lopmon to Henry and walked over to the kitchen to give the three of them some privacy.

After making sure that she wasn't in the room with them, Henry and Terriermon walked over to the couch as Lopmon followed, curious as to what Henry wanted to ask. Once the three of them sat down on said couch, Henry sighed before launching into his question.

"So Lopmon, I'm sorry in advance if you're not comfortable with me bringing this up, but this has to do with back when you were still a Deva."

"What's this about?" asked Lopmon, confused.

While it was true that Lopmon preferred not to discuss her time as a Deva, wanting nothing more than to forget it ever happened, she was still curious as to what Henry wanted to know, so she reluctantly agreed to help.

"Well, um…you already know about our business we had with Vajramon last night."

Lopmon nodded, clearly remembering him and Terriermon sharing their experiences when they returned home last night.

"Anyway, the others and I were trying to figure out how he could have come back even though we destroyed him here in our world. As far as I recall, Digimon don't come back as eggs if they're destroyed in the real world, so it doesn't make much sense to me."

Henry paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts before finally asking the question he intended to ask.

"We were wondering if you knew anything about how Vajramon managed to come back. Like…if one of the Devas had the ability to recreate a Digimon from scratch and somehow retain his memories."

Henry watched with bated breath as Lopmon thought about what Henry was asking.

"No, none of the Devas had that kind of power, at least as far as I could remember. To be honest, I spent so much time guarding the South Gate, I didn't see too many Digimon around, so it's kind of difficult to remember things about the other Devas."

Henry was admittedly disappointed, thinking they were back to square one, but what Lopmon had to say next came as a complete surprise.

"I think I remember seeing Zhuqiaomon having something like that kind of power. I saw him do it once or twice when he was near my gate."


	23. Chapter 23

"Zhuqiaomon can recreate Digimon? How?"

Henry was desperately trying to wrap his head around the fact that Zhuqiaomon, the Digimon that was the catalyst of one of the worst few hours of not just his, but everyone else's lives, could have the ability to simply recreate a Digimon that had been destroyed almost as if nothing had happened.

"Well, he's a Holy Beast. I'm pretty sure they have that kind of power." said Lopmon, giving Henry a look that made it seem like what she just said was incredibly obvious.

"No, I mean how was Zhuqiaomon able to recreate a Digimon, with its memories from its previous life mind you, from practically nothing? Even if a Digimon's data isn't absorbed, there's no way to tell where the stray data goes."

"Actually, I think I have an idea."

Henry stared at Lopmon, not expecting her to have an answer so quickly considering he was clearly expecting it to be unanswerable.

"You do? Well then, tell me. I think that it's important that we know."

Lopmon paused, slowly breathing in and out before finally launching into her explanation.

"Well, admittedly this is all based on what I've heard from Zhuqiaomon while I was guarding the South Gate, so it was kind of far away."

"And you still heard him?" asked Terriermon, surprised.

"I have big ears. I can hear things pretty well." said Lopmon, lifting her own ears into the air for emphasis. "Anyway, I heard Zhuqiaomon talking with one of the other guards, and he mentioned something about stray data managing to slip through the cracks between this world and the Digital World."

At first, Henry was thinking to himself that Lopmon's explanation was a pretty big leap in logic, but the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it became to him, especially now that he remembered seeing the barrier ripped open between the worlds after Hypnos first unleashed Juggernaut.

Still, this new information was really difficult for Henry to fully wrap his head around, as he was forced to rub at his temples for a bit to relieve the headache that was beginning to form.

"So…Lopmon. I just have one more question for you, and then I'll let you play with Suzie again."

Henry could clearly see the nervous look on Lopmon's face, but thankfully she was able to remain quiet, which allowed Henry to fully voice his concern.

"Have you ever seen Zhuqiaomon fully recreate a Digimon, like maybe one of the Devas for instance?"

"Well…no, but I have seen him talk about it a lot, and to be honest, I don't see why he would be making stuff like that up with the way he talks about it."

Lopmon suddenly noticed the disbelieving looks that Henry and Terriermon were giving her, forcing her to quickly explain herself.

"It's not that I never saw him do it! I was just never allowed to!"

"Never allowed to? But you were a Deva! Don't you have some kind of authority or something to oversee these kinds of things?" asked Terriermon.

"No, I didn't! Being a Deva isn't just throwing your weight around whenever you wanted to. There's a hierarchy to things. That's why Devas like Vajramon and Pajiramon were able to run around this world, while Devas like me could only guard the gates to Zhuqiaomon like good little boys and girls."

Henry couldn't help but notice how bitter Lopmon sounded when she spoke about the Devas, but he soon realized it was better just to leave things in the past and not bring up ugly details about her past.

"So, does this mean that Devas on Vajramon's level would be able to participate with Zhuqiaomon on these revivals?"

Lopmon shook her head.

"No. Zhuqiaomon was at his own level, and only the highest level Devas could be involved, so that essentially meant just him."

"I see! Zhuqiaomon must have not wanted to let Digimon like you guys see what he was capable of. Then he'd just get a bunch of Digimon asking for him to revive friends or family, and things would just snowball." said Terriermon, his eyes widening as Lopmon's explanation began to finally click in his mind.

"Exactly!" said Lopmon, nodding happily when she realized that Henry and Terriermon were finally beginning to understand.

Henry sighed, letting out a breath he didn't even realize that he was holding in.

"Wow Lopmon, this is quite a lot to take in. Thanks for all your help."

"So…are you guys going to do something about it?" asked Lopmon, curious.

Henry paused, caught off guard by Lopmon's unexpected question.

"I…don't really know. I don't think there's much that we can do right now, unless there happens to be another portal to the Digital World somewhere in the city like last time."

"And even then, we still got our butts handed to us by Zhuqiaomon last time. I don't know how much we'll be able to actually do if we try to take on that giant chicken again." said Terriermon, elaborating on Henry's explanation.

"Oh…okay." said Lopmon, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Thanks again for all your help, Lopmon."

As soon as Henry finished speaking Lopmon hopped down from the couch and headed over to the kitchen. Suzie was surprisingly still waiting patiently for Henry to finish, although she did look noticeably curious after overhearing things when Henry failed to keep his voice down.

Suzie soon decided that she really wanted to know what they were talking about, so she immediately hopped down from the chair she was sitting on and walked over into the family room, speaking up just as soon as Henry and Terriermon were about to discuss their findings.

"Hey, Henwy? What were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing important." said Henry, quickly having to think of an excuse to prevent Suzie from catching on.

Unfortunately, Suzie was smarter than Henry expected.

"Really? I heard some of the things that you guys were talking about. You were talking pretty loud, Henwy."

Henry froze after realizing that Suzie was right. He wasn't really watching his volume when he was talking with Lopmon, and with how quiet their apartment was, the conversation can travel pretty far.

"Suzie, I know what you're thinking. I don't want you anywhere near Zhuqiaomon. That is, if we even get there."

"But Henwy! Lopmon and I want to help!"

"It's too dangerous, Suzie! You know how I felt when you were playing around with Lopmon when she was still Antylamon. Zhuqiaomon's a hundred times worse than that!"

Suzie was still very much determined to help everyone out, not wanting to just stay on the sidelines all the time. However, Henry refused to back down, so despite her wanting to continue to try and convince him to take her and Lopmon along, she was well aware that it was a losing battle.

Soon after, though, Suzie managed to get a pretty devious idea in her head, and in an attempt to hide it from Henry's all-seeing eyes, adopted an innocent look on her face as she played along, making Henry think that she was going to stay out of the way.

"Okay, I'll stay away from the danger. I'm sorry for trying to help all of you out."

Henry stared at Suzie, a feeling in his gut that something was up due to the abrupt change in her demeanor, but he couldn't quite place it in his mind, so he decided just to play along as well, albeit with a different method.

Nodding, he began walking towards the phone in the hallway, turning towards Suzie after taking a few steps towards his destination.

"Hey, why don't you, Lopmon and Terriermon watch some TV? I have to go make a phone call."

Terriermon looked noticeably distraught at the prospect of having to spend time with Suzie, but when Henry gestured towards Lopmon as if to tell his partner that he wouldn't be dealing with Suzie alone, the bunny Digimon looked noticeably less nervous.

As Suzie carried the two Digimon over to the couch, Henry went into the hallway and picked up the phone, pausing just as he was about to dial a number when he realized that he didn't quite remember the number he was planning to call.

"What was the bakery's number again?" he asked to himself, trying his best to collect his thoughts so that he could remember.

Thankfully, the first couple of numbers came back to him, and he was able to quickly remember the following numbers soon after.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hey Takato! I'm glad I managed to get you on the phone rather than your parents."

"Well, actually, they're still closing down the shop for the night, so they were kind of busy to be able to answer the phone."

"Ah, I see."

Henry was able to see through some of his rare visits to Takato's parents' bakery that the two of them were very busy every time he passed through, so he could see Takato's reasoning.

"So anyway, what's up?" asked Takato.

"I really think we're going to need to get a meeting together."

"Okay…I kind of realized that when you said we were going to need a meeting while we were in that alley."

"I know, but this is way more important now!"

"Alright, fair enough. What's the details?"

"I don't want to get too far into it, to be honest. Let's just say this involves our old friend Zhuqiaomon."

Henry could almost hear the stunned silence coming from Takato's end, as he was no doubt reliving some of the really bad moments that he had while they were fighting the Holy Beast. Most likely, though, Henry believed that Takato was reliving almost losing Guilmon when he transformed into Megidramon.

"Takato? Are you alright over there?"

"What? Yeah, I'm alright. Just…had some bad flashbacks. Anyway, what does Zhuqiaomon have to do with everything?"

"I'll tell you guys later. I think we should probably meet sometime after school, like usual. Does Guilmon's old house sound good for a meeting place?"

Although Takato was slightly disappointed that he was going to have to wait to find out why Henry seemed so antsy, he willingly agreed with their meeting place.

"Oh yeah, and call Kazu and Kenta and tell them about it, too. I'm not sure what their phone numbers are."

"Okay, I will."

Henry placed the receiver on the dock, disconnecting the call before immediately picking it back up again, dialing another number. He went through those steps a couple of more times as he called the other Tamers to let them know about the meeting.

Once everyone that he hadn't given to Takato had been notified, Henry walked into the kitchen and sat down in the seat that Suzie had apparently been in considering she'd failed to push it back under the table, immediately placing his head on the table between his arms as he sighed heavily.

"Man…hopefully everyone else is doing better than I am right now."


	24. Chapter 24

It turns out that not everyone was doing better than Henry at the moment, as Takato was still a little freaked out by the call he just got from him, so much so that Guilmon began to notice the fact that his partner was staring into space.

Now, Guilmon wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed admittedly, but he was well aware of what would happen if Takato's parents walked in and saw him in this kind of state. His mom would probably find a way to blame it on Guilmon, and then things would get really bad.

So, after listening into the bakery for a few seconds to make sure that Takato's parents were still there, Guilmon quickly moved over to Takato himself and waved a paw in front of his face.

"Takato? Yoo-hoo! Are you in there?"

Somehow this managed to pull Takato out of his thoughts, and he regarded Guilmon's presence with a look of slight puzzlement.

"I'm alright, boy."

"You didn't look alright a few seconds ago." Guilmon pointed out.

Takato opened his mouth to say something before he soon realized that Guilmon was right. Sighing, he felt that he really needed to confess.

"I'm sorry, boy. I was…just remembering what happened back when we were in the Digital World."

Even though Takato was intentionally being as vague as possible, Guilmon somehow managed to put the pieces together and figure out exactly what Takato was talking about.

"Are you talking about Zhuqiaomon?"

Takato's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting the Digimon to figure out what he was thinking about.

"How did you figure that out?"

"I heard you and Henry talking about him."

"Oh. I guess you probably know the moment I'm talking about, huh?" asked Takato.

Guilmon simply nodded, which confirmed Takato's suspicions, but before he could continue to speak, Guilmon beat him to it.

"I know you're still worried about when I Digivolved into Megidramon, but we're past that! Besides, the only reason that even happened was because of when Beelzemon destroyed Leomon."

Takato noticeably flinched when the subject of Leomon was brought up, which forced Guilmon to immediately move on from the subject, mumbling an apology before continuing to speak.

"Anyway, Impmon's nice now, so there's no need to be worried that something is going to go wrong, even with Zhuqiaomon."

Takato paused as he reflected on what Guilmon said. Admittedly, while it was a bit of a traumatizing moment in his life, he has learned to look past that moment thanks to how well Jeri was handling not having Leomon around. And now that she has Palmon with her, it makes things even better.

"Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't be so worried." he said, smiling.

Takato stood up from his seat, and he and Guilmon began heading upstairs to get some alone time before dinner, but not before Takato wanted to point something else he found interesting out.

"You know, Guilmon, what you just said there was pretty profound. I think we might be able to make you a philosopher someday."

"Really?" said Guilmon, excited for a moment before his expression changed to a look of confusion. "What's a philosopher?"

"Never mind."

* * *

The next morning came and went without any real incidents, which came as a surprise to Takato, but he was more than willing to take it as a win in his book considering he didn't want to have to deal with any trouble.

Eventually, after yet another day of having to go to school, Takato, Kazu, Kenta and Jeri walked together to the park, having already left their Digimon there to play in the morning like they usually did.

After meeting up with them, they all headed towards the deeper parts of the park, where the small building that used to house Guilmon sat, surprisingly untouched since the Digimon officially moved out.

When they all arrived, they found Rika and Henry were already there with their Digimon, and Henry looked pretty antsy to get started as he stepped forwards once he noticed the others arrive.

"Oh good, you're all here."

Takato smiled, ready to get the meeting started, but after Kenta took a look around the area, he noticed that something was missing.

"Hey, where's Ryo? I haven't seen him around in a while."

Everyone was silent for a few moments, suddenly realizing that they were missing an important member of their team.

"Actually, I don't know." said Henry.

"Well, didn't you try calling him?" asked Takato.

Henry simply shrugged.

"I would've, but I don't even know where that guy lives, let alone what his phone number is."

"You know, that is pretty strange." pointed out Kazu. "I know Ryo hasn't really spent much time outside of the Digital World, but I'd figure he would at least keep in touch with us!"

"I guess all we can really do is wait for when he decides to show up again. It was kind of his thing back when we were in the Digital World, remember?" said Jeri.

"Oh yeah, you're right." said Takato, remembering that Ryo really liked to pop in and out every so often during their adventures there.

"Well, speaking of that, I think we should probably get this meeting officially started." said Rika, really wanting to get the conversation away from Ryo.

"Okay, I can agree with that."

Henry stepped forwards once more, taking charge as he's usually done during their last meetings.

"Alright, so I know Takato and I have been a bit vague when we were talking to you guys on the phone yesterday."

"Obviously! The way Takato was speaking, it was almost like you were expecting the end of the world was going to come!"

"Hey, I was still a little freaked out by what Henry had initially told me, Kazu!" said Takato, trying to defend himself.

"Well then, what did he tell you then?" asked Kenta, his curiosity piqued.

Henry sighed, knowing quite well the reception he was about to get once he said what he was going to say.

"Zhuqiamon sent Vajramon to this world. It's possible he might have the capacity to send some of the other Devas here as well."

As Henry expected, everyone else was noticeably shocked by the revelation.

"How? Digimon don't come back if they're destroyed in our world!" said Rika.

"Believe me, Rika, I originally thought that, too, but Lopmon told me that Zhuqiaomon has the ability to use scraps of the data that managed to slip into the Digital World and recreate the Deva from scratch, apparently with its memories intact."

Everyone fell silent once more as they registered what Henry had said.

"I don't believe it. This seems like way too much of a stretch." said Kazu.

"No, I'd have to disagree."

Kazu's head whipped around to where he heard that disagreement come from to find that it was Takato who did so.

"Okay Takato, if you think he's telling the truth, why don't you explain why you think so?"

"Well, he's one of the four Holy Beasts. They're the most powerful Digimon in existence. Heck, they even were part of the creation of the Digital World in the first place, so I really don't see why they can't do something like that as long as they have the data to do it."

"But, with only scraps? I just don't see how Zhuqiaomon would be able to create a Deva from scratch with all of its memories just from the limited amount of data it has." said Kenta.

"We don't know exactly how much data how much data has managed to slip through into the Digital World, though. It's possible that a large amount of it has gotten through, especially after the sky was almost literally ripped open back when Hypnos used Juggernaut."

Kenta opened his mouth to argue Takato's point, but after considering the fact that they still knew almost nothing about how the Digital World actually worked, he found no other reason not to believe what he said.

"Alright, so now that we know what we're up against, this leaves us with what to do about it. Does anyone have any ideas?" asked Henry once he realized that everyone was silent again.

"Easy. Just go back to the Digital World and kick Zhuqiaomon's butt! Then he'll leave us alone!" said Kazu.

"Uh, Kazu, you do realize that we barely managed to escape Zhuqiaomon with our lives last time, right?" pointed out Guardromon.

"Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence, Guardromon." said Kazu, giving his partner a flat look.

"Well, to be fair, even if we did have the capabilities to take on someone like Zhuqiaomon, we don't really have any way to even get back to the Digital World." said Takato, having listened to Kazu and Guardromon's exchange.

"Are you sure?" asked Rika, catching Takato off guard.

"Uhh…"

"You know, Rika is right. With how out of sorts the connection between the two worlds has been since the breach has first started, there is a chance that a portal may have opened somewhere in the city." said Renamon.

"Yeah, but still, we can't just run around the city looking for a hole in space that's probably going to be as small as this!" said Takato, holding his thumb and index finger a few inches apart in an approximation of how big the original hole was that they used to travel to the Digital World the first time.

"Maybe we don't have to. Have you been inside Guilmon's old house recently?" asked Henry, pointing towards the building in question.

Takato looked over towards the house, considering what Henry had said. While this was the place where he managed to find the hole the first time way back when, it felt like a really big stretch for it to be in the exact same place it was last time.

After a few more moments of thinking, Takato shrugged, figuring that it wouldn't hurt to try it out.

"I guess I might as well see."

"No reason not to. It would save us some time if it was there." said Henry.

Takato nodded, seeing Henry's point. He began walking towards the small building, intending to open the door and find out whether the portal was in fact there once more, but before he could, Jeri suddenly piped up.

"Hey, maybe we should wait for a little while before going in there. We do have to think about making final preparations. There's no telling how long we're going to be in there."

"I know, Jeri, but this is kind of based on if there actually still is a portal in there." said Takato.

"What if there is? What do we do then?"

"We're not going in there right away. I imagine most of you guys would agree with me, but I think we should probably make sure we're absolutely ready before we go if there is a portal in there."

"Yeah, you're right. We do have to get Calumon to come with us for one thing." said Kazu.

Takato nodded, agreeing with Kazu's sentiments. When no one else spoke, he turned around once more, Guilmon keeping an eye on him as the two of them slowly made their way towards Guilmon's old house.

When they finally reached the cage door, Takato placed his hand on one of the bars, ready to pull it open. Before doing so, though, he turned towards Guilmon, who looked back at his partner curiously.

"Ready, boy?" he said quietly.

His expression changing to a determined look, Guilmon nodded, and Takato flung the cage open, ready to find out what lies beyond the gate.


	25. Chapter 25

Takato was almost expecting it to happen, but he was still pretty disappointed that there was no portal in the building once he and Guilmon went in. However, he still remembered exactly how they managed to find the portal the first time, so he turned towards Guilmon.

"Ready to do some digging, Guilmon?"

"Yeah, but how far should I go down? It looks like no one's filled the hole I made last time."

Takato looked over towards where the back wall of the building was, and while it was pretty dark at that end, he did notice the telltale slope of Guilmon's original digging job from a few months ago.

"Maybe just a few feet. I don't think it'll be down any further than that."

Guilmon was admittedly a little unsure with Takato's reasoning, but he nodded and walked over to where the hole originally was, getting to work.

Guilmon was actually digging through the dirt surprisingly fast, so it only took a few minutes before the Digimon called out from his position in the hole.

"Takato, I don't see anything down here!"

"You sure? Here, let me light things up for you!"

Takato quickly walked over to where the hole was, pulling out his phone and activating the flashlight feature.

While it wasn't exactly the most powerful flashlight in the world, it was more than enough for Guilmon, who had enough light to get a better look around him.

Unfortunately, his search still turned up empty, and he looked up towards Takato, shaking his head in disappointment.

Takato himself was admittedly a little disappointed as well, but he figured that it wouldn't have been that easy anyway, so after pulling Guilmon out of the hole (which proved to be a bit of a challenge), the two of them made their way back into the park to give everyone else the bad news.

* * *

"So, did you find something?" asked Henry as Takato and Guilmon rejoined the group.

"Nope. Not even a speck of data."

Henry sighed.

"Oh well. At least we tried."

"So, what do we do now, then? Just wait around until the next Deva shows up?" asked Rika, slightly annoyed that they had no way to shut Zhuqiaomon's plan down right then and there.

"That's all we can do, really. Even if someone had the capability of sending us to the Digital World, I doubt that they'd let us." said Takato.

"Man, this sucks!" said Kazu.

"Yeah, I would like to get this whole thing over with sometime soon." commented Kenta.

"Don't worry, we will. We just have to wait for the right moment." said Takato.

The group fell silent for a few moments, unsure of whether just to bring the meeting to a close or not. However, Henry soon spoke up, realizing something important they could do.

"Hey, I know something we can do. Everyone, make sure to keep an eye out for Impmon."

"What? Why Impmon?" asked Rika, confused.

"Well, he was a pretty valuable part of our team the last time."

"Yeah, after he tried to kill us all."

The group fell silent once more as the subject of Impmon's past transgressions was brought up.

"Well, I think he redeemed himself pretty well when we were fighting the D-Reaper. Don't you guys think so?" he asked, looking around at everyone.

Everyone seemed pretty willing to forgive Impmon, except for Rika and Jeri, who were reluctant to do so. However, after a few seconds have passed, the two of them changed their minds and agreed to forgive him.

"Alright, that's settled." said Henry. Before he could actually lay out the plan, though, Takato interrupted.

"I don't think we really need to go out of our way to find Impmon, though. I think, if someone manages to run into him, and then try to talk him into joining the team."

"Isn't he spending time with those two little kids, though? I remember seeing the three of them playing once." said Kazu.

Takato couldn't help but crack a smile at the thought of the notoriously surly Impmon playing around with little kids, but he managed to remain on track with his plan.

"Well, if I know Impmon as well as I do, he'd probably be looking for any excuse to get away from them for a while. That'd probably be our best time to speak to him."

"Alright, fair enough." said Kazu, shrugging.

"Oh, by the way, is Calumon still around? I'm hoping that we don't lose track of him again." said Kenta.

"He was still at my house last time I checked. Calumon seems to be really hitting it off with Palmon." said Jeri.

"Well, that's good news."

Takato, smiling once he heard the news, walked over to where Palmon was and kneeled down as he began talking to him.

"Are you and Calumon getting along well?"

"Oh yeah, we are! It was a little awkward at first, but Calumon seemed more interested in making friends than actually worrying about where I came from."

"That's good. I was a little worried myself, to be honest. Anyway, did Calumon ever try to leave?"

Palmon was noticeably surprised at Takato's question, forcing Takato to quickly explain himself.

"I'm not blaming you for anything, Palmon! I'm just…Calumon has a tendency to roam around the city a lot and not stay in one place for very long. It's really important for us to have Calumon with us, and I don't want him walking off when we really need him. Do you understand?"

After a few seconds thought, Palmon nodded his head to show that he understood, and Takato, smiling, stood up and rejoined Guilmon as Palmon spoke.

"Yeah, the last time I remember seeing Calumon, he was asleep on Jeri's bed. Apparently all that Digivolution must have really tired him out."

"For two days, though? That seems a bit excessive." commented Henry.

"It wasn't for two days straight. Calumon and Palmon did spend a lot of time playing around, as I've said." said Jeri.

Everyone seemed satisfied with Jeri and Palmon's answer, so Henry felt it was probably a good time to move on.

"Okay then, unless someone has some kind of urgent thing to bring up, I think we can bring this meeting to an end."

"What about Ryo, though? Are we just going to let him go on his own way, or are we going to find him and get him to help us out?" asked Rika, although she did look a little reluctant to mention that fact.

"There's not much we can do. I have no idea where he even lives, for starters."

"All we can do is let him do his thing. I'm sure he'll pop up again when we really need him." said Takato.

Even though Rika wasn't very happy with the answer she was given, she remained silent, realizing that both Henry and Takato had a point. Ryo was admittedly one of those loner types.

"Alright, if no one else wants to say anything, I think we should all be heading home anyway. It's getting kind of dark." said Takato.

Everyone else looked around and noticed that it was indeed getting dark out, thanks to the street lights flicking on.

"Wow, I didn't even think we were out here that long." commented Henry.

Everyone soon went their separate ways, all of them being forced to remain on guard for the right moment to strike and end the problem they faced.

As Takato and Guilmon made their way home, Guilmon couldn't help but voice something that he had in the back of his mind for at least a few weeks now.

"Hey Takato? What will happen when we close that hole between my world and yours?"

Takato was admittedly taken aback by Guilmon's question, as he had completely forgotten about that fact after everything that's happened.

As the two of them continued walking, Guilmon watched as Takato remained silent, having no idea of how to answer his partner's question.

"I honestly don't know, boy. I'm hoping that we won't have to lose you guys again, but obviously I can't make those kinds of promises."

Guilmon looked noticeably downtrodden after Takato's blunt assessment, which forced Takato to quickly find a way to cheer the Digimon up.

"Don't worry, Guilmon. I'll make sure to find a way that we can close the breach without having to lose you guys again. I imagine everyone else would be just as eager to help, too."

This still didn't exactly cheer Guilmon up, considering how open-ended Takato's promise was, but his expression did noticeably lighten up somewhat, so Takato took it as a good sign.

Once the two of them finally made it back home, Takato was about to kick off his shoes on to the mat near the door, but before he could actually do so, his mother walked into the hallway, having heard the door open just a few seconds ago.

"Hi, Takato! How was your day?" she asked.

"It was fine, Mom. Is uh…is there something that you need me to do? You're usually busy closing the shop when I get home."

"Yes, actually there is something. I'm sorry to have to send you back out so soon after you got home, but there's another last minute order that needs delivered."

"I'm assuming you want me to go take it over?" asked Takato, waiting for the answer he expected to get.

"If you wouldn't mind. Your father and I have had a really busy day today. We've only just managed to get started on cleaning everything."

"Alright, mom. I'll do it." said Takato, sighing.

"Thank you so much for the help. Here's the order and the address. I should have dinner ready by the time you get back." she said, handing Takato a basket of bread with a slip of paper stuck inside.

Takato was admittedly looking forwards to kicking back and spending some more free time with Guilmon, but he willingly slipped his half-removed shoe back on to his foot. However, just as he took the first step back out of the door, Takato turned back towards his mother; unable to resist making a comment that he had in mind.

"You know, I'm surprised you keep taking these last minute calls, mom. Maybe things would be a little easier if you would change things up with that."

"Oh, I couldn't do that. I'd end up losing valuable customers, and you know how important they are to keeping food on our table."

"Okay, mom. I understand. I'm just throwing it out there."

Takato turned and began making his way back out on to the streets.

"Don't forget to get the money from the customer when you're there, Takato! He's been a notorious late payer!"

"Okay, mom!"

Takato rolled his eyes once he looked away from his mother, knowing that he had no intentions of not collecting the money once he delivered the order. Still, he didn't mind having to be reminded of that fact.

"Ready to go, Guilmon?"

Takato looked over at Guilmon, only to realize that the Digimon had one of the loaves of bread in his paw. Before he could take a bite, though, Takato quickly snatched it out of Guilmon's grip.

"Guilmon! Don't eat the bread! That's for the customer." chided Takato.

"Awww…"

Guilmon looked relatively disappointed at being unable to have some of the bread, but thankfully the Digimon managed to behave himself as Takato began leading the way towards their delivery location.


	26. Chapter 26

The trek to the customer's house was surprisingly uneventful for Takato and Guilmon, although Takato did have to fend Guilmon off a few times as the Digimon tried to snatch a loaf while he wasn't looking.

When it almost got to the point where Takato was beginning to regret taking Guilmon along with them, though, they finally reached the house in question.

Takato quickly knocked on the door, only to nearly jump when he realized that he nearly forgot about Guilmon's presence.

As the owner of the house made his way towards the door, Takato quickly turned towards Guilmon.

"Quick Guilmon, hide!"

Guilmon just looked at Takato in confusion, which forced Takato to resort to drastic measures considering the limited time they had.

Ignoring Guilmon's protests, Takato began pushing him towards some nearby bushes, nervously glancing towards the door every so often to make sure that the customer wasn't already at the door.

"Stay here, okay?" said Takato quietly once Guilmon was sufficiently hidden.

"Aww…why?"

"Because the guy in the house is probably going to freak out if he sees a giant lizard at his doorstep, and my parents really need the money."

Guilmon looked pretty disappointed at not being able to participate in the delivery, but he willingly remained quiet.

Satisfied, Takato left Guilmon to his devices and returned to the front door, only to start when he realized that the owner, a stocky looking man with a short beard, was already at the front door, about ready to close the door when Takato arrived.

"Heh, sorry about that. I had some quick business to take care of." said Takato, nervously scratching at the back of his neck.

"Can I help you with something, or should I call the police in for disorderly conduct?" said the man, looking none too happy.

"Oh no, you don't have to do that! I've just got your order from the Matsuki Family Bakery." said Takato, holding his hands up in front of him to placate the unhappy man.

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?" said the man, his expression doing a complete one-eighty once he found out why Takato was there.

Without waiting for a reply from Takato, the man quickly ran back into his house, returning with a check payment.

Although Takato was admittedly unsure as to whether his parents accepted checks, considering he never really saw them do so, he willingly handed the basket of bread over to the man, sticking the check in his pocket as he figured he would see what his mom wanted to do with it.

Just as Takato was about to say his goodbyes and head back to retrieve Guilmon, the man's expression faltered as the quiet around them allowed him to hear something very interesting.

"Hey, do you hear…growling?"

Confused, Takato looked at the man, thinking that an animal must have managed to get out into the city somewhere, but then his eyes widened when he realized that there was only one thing that could have made that kind of noise at this time at night.

"Sorry, sir, I've got to go." he said, bowing before quickly rushing off.

"Wait! Why are you heading towards the growling?" yelled the man, staring at Takato's retreating form for a few seconds before reluctantly heading back into his house and closing the door, his fears for his own safety overriding his worry about what Takato was getting himself into.

As for Takato himself, he quickly made his way back over to the bushes, only to find that it was in fact Guilmon who was the one growling.

Worried, Takato slowly made his way through the bushes, knowing from experience exactly why Guilmon was growling, but wanting to make sure that he wasn't just hearing things.

"Something wrong, boy?"

All the signs were pointing towards exactly what Takato was thinking of, as Guilmon's eyes turned into slits, and he was almost looking like he was feral. Takato knew better, but it was still an unnerving sight.

Takato was completely expecting Guilmon to mention the fact that he was smelling a Digimon around, but to the young Tamer's surprise, Guilmon remained silent, instead shooting out of the bushes as he sniffed at the air.

"Woah! Guilmon, wait!" said Takato, forced to rush out of the bushes to keep up with him, earning a few scratches from the branches which he ignored.

Both Takato and Guilmon rushed through the city, Guilmon looking like he was on a mission, while Takato could only follow behind him, wanting nothing more than for it to be a false alarm.

"Man, my parents are going to kill me."

* * *

Unfortunately, it wasn't a false alarm, as Takato and Guilmon found themselves in front of yet another Digital Field, the fog enveloping a large portion of the street.

"And here I was getting used to not having to fight Digimon." commented Takato as he looked at the field.

Sighing, he turned towards Guilmon, thankful that this time he remembered to bring his deck with him.

"You ready to go, boy?"

Guilmon nodded, grunting out an affirmative before rushing into the fog. Takato, meanwhile, pulled his goggles down over his eyes, taking a few more seconds to take in the scene in front of him before heading into the fog himself.

Once Takato passed through the fog and removed his goggles, he quickly pulled out his D-Power, wanting to get this battle over with quickly considering he was already late for dinner.

"Come on…come on…" he said to himself as he scanned the area around him, Guilmon's information popping up for a second when he passed over his partner.

Eventually, Takato finally managed to get a hit, and the Digimon's information popped up on his screen.

However, before he could actually get to reading through said data, he was suddenly interrupted by Guilmon barreling into him, knocking him to the side.

"Pyro Sphere!"

Takato barely managed to register a scream of pain coming from an unfamiliar voice as he picked himself up off of the ground.

"Thanks, buddy." he said to Guilmon, despite only having a general idea of what just happened.

Guilmon nodded once more before returning to focusing on the Digimon in front of him, who to Takato's surprise began talking.

"Oww! Why did you shoot me out of the air?"

Caught off guard, it took Takato a few seconds to realize that, while the Digimon did look pretty angry, he wasn't actually attacking, which was strange.

"Wait…aren't you trying to get out of this digital field and start rampaging through our world?" he asked, confused.

"Our world? What are you talking about?" said the Digimon, who now that things have calmed down stood up, looking a little charred but none the worse for wear.

His brain still trying to register exactly what was going on, Takato raised his D-Power, which thankfully still had the data from his original scan still on the screen. The only thing that actually stuck in his mind, however, was the Digimon's name.

"Gaomon? Huh, that's weird. Don't think I've ever seen a Gaomon before."

"Well, maybe you should have looked a little harder, then." said the Gaomon, looking none too happy at the state he was in.

The conversation between Takato and the Gaomon stopped for a few seconds as Gaomon took the time to look at the area around him, which allowed Takato to see exactly what the Digimon looked like.

Takato only really had time to register the boxing gloves on the Digimon's hands and the red bandana before he heard growling coming from behind him.

To Takato's surprise, Guilmon still looked like he was ready to pounce, so Takato was quickly forced to take action. Placing himself in front of the angry dinosaur, Takato placed his hands on Guilmon's shoulders, making eye contact with him as he spoke.

"Guilmon, calm down! He may be a bit hotheaded, but I don't think he's hostile."

"Hey! Who are you calling hotheaded?"

Despite Gaomon proving Takato's first description from what he just said, Guilmon managed to noticeably calm down, his eyes returning to their normal shape, although Guilmon was still pretty wary.

Even though the Gaomon still looked pretty pissed at being called hotheaded, the Digimon still remained where he was, allowing Takato to ask him a few questions.

"So…if you're not here to cause a ruckus, then what are you doing here in my world?"

"I'm only going to answer your question if you tell me exactly what the heck you're talking about when you say 'my world' or 'our world'. You're not making any sense."

Slightly taken aback by getting his question thrown right back at him, it took Takato a few seconds to formulate an answer.

"Well, um…we, meaning Guilmon and I, refer to this as the Real World." he said, gesturing towards himself and Guilmon as he spoke. "As for you, your world is what we call the Digital World."

Unfortunately, the way Takato referred to his world ended up hitting a nerve with Gaomon with how it implied that the Digital World wasn't real, but Takato continued on speaking in an attempt to explain himself a little better.

"Okay, so Real World probably isn't the best way to describe our world. What I meant to say was 'Human World'. That sound better?"

"Humans? What are humans?" asked the Gaomon, confused.

"People like me." said Takato, gesturing towards himself.

The Gaomon didn't exactly look thrilled with Takato's vague explanation, but he managed to get the hint.

"As for your question, no, I'm not here to cause any trouble. In fact, I'm only here by accident."

"Accident? How?" asked Takato, not expecting the kind of answer he got.

"I'm stuck here, you idiot!" said Gaomon, indignant that Takato didn't already have a general idea as to why he was here.

"Okay! You don't have to be so mean about it. What I'm asking is how did you even get here in the first place?"

The Gaomon paused for a few moments, glancing away from Takato and Guilmon before answering.

"I got thrown into this weird world when I got caught in a data stream. I had no idea where I even was, so I just kept walking. I found this weird hole after a while, and then I woke up here. It's as simple as that."

Both Takato and Guilmon glanced at each other, having a pretty good idea of what this weird world was.

"I think you might have been thrown into the space between our worlds, but that doesn't explain exactly why a data stream would be throwing you all the way out there."

"Well, I do remember seeing this giant hole before I actually woke up inside that world. Does that help?"

"Yeah, I think it does." said Takato, putting two and two together and realizing that it was very possible that the breach was growing larger.

"Anyway, all I want to do is to go back to the Digital World. I got separated from my friends, for Pete's sake!"

Takato felt a twinge of sympathy for Gaomon, having a general idea of what Gaomon must be going through.

"I'd love to take you back, Gaomon, but unfortunately we don't have any way to get to the Digital World right now."

"You're not hiding anything from me, are you? Because I've got a Rolling Upper with your name on it if you cross me." said Gaomon, a menacing glare on the Digimon's face as he held one of his boxing gloves up towards Takato.

"N-no, of course not! I would never do something like that." said Takato nervously.

"Good."

As Takato watched the Gaomon return his fist to his side, Guilmon suddenly spoke up, catching Takato slightly off guard as he forgot he was even there.

"Takato, what are we going to do about Gaomon until then? I don't think your parents are going to let you bring in another one of us."

Realizing that Guilmon was right, Takato was forced to think for a few moments as the Digital Field mysteriously dissipated.

"Henry and Jeri are out. They're already taking care of two Digimon. I'm not crazy enough to let Kazu or Kenta look after him, so I guess that leaves one person."

Takato looked noticeably apprehensive as he spoke, which clued Guilmon in to who exactly he was talking about. Before Guilmon could comment, though, Takato pulled out his phone, sighing heavily as he dialed the phone number he was looking for.

"Hey, Rika?" he asked once he heard the sleepy voice of Rika on the other end. "I doubt you're going to like this, but I have a huge favor to ask of you."


	27. Chapter 27

"I said no!"

Rika was currently sitting in front of her house with Renamon, trying her best not to have an aneurysm while she was fending off Takato's attempts to shove Gaomon on to her.

"Come on, Rika! You're the only one I know that isn't already double tasking with taking care of Digimon." said Takato's voice from the other end of the phone line.

"No, I'm not, and you know it."

Rika could hear Takato sigh heavily from his end, a feeling in her gut that he was going to be as stubborn as ever.

"We've been through this, Rika. My parents are going to kill me if I bring Gaomon home with me, and I don't feel comfortable leaving him with Kazu or Kenta. So that leaves you."

"Don't you think they're already going to kill you considering you're supposed to be home at this time of night?"

Takato paused.

"Well yeah, but that's not the point. My mom is spending half of her time at home worried that Guilmon's going to clean out our entire stock of bread. Just imagine what she'll think if there's another Digimon in my house!"

"Alright, fine! If it'll make you happy, I'll keep an eye on Gaomon for you."

"Thank you so much, Rika. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, yeah…Renamon and I will meet you by your house." she said, still sounding pretty miffed at the fact that she was now a babysitter.

Takato had already disconnected the call, though, so he luckily wasn't able to hear the choice words that Rika had for him.

"Come on, Renamon. Let's get this over with." she said, sighing.

Renamon stood up, remaining silent as Rika quickly jogged over to the front door to her house, slipping her head through once she pulled the door open.

"Mom, I'll be back in a bit!"

"Where are you going?"

Although Rika was slightly caught off guard, as she was fully expecting not to get an answer back, she was prepared with her own answer.

"I just need to pick something up from a friend. I'll be right back. I promise."

"Okay. Be careful."

Rika caught the apprehensive tone in her mother's voice, but she was pretty confident there was nothing to worry about, so after pulling her head out of the doorway, she shut it behind her before she started walking in the direction of Takato's house, Renamon following close behind.

* * *

Predictably, the two of them were the first ones there, so Rika and Renamon were forced to stand a few houses away from Takato's parent's bakery, trying not to stand out as much as a young girl and a large fox Digimon could.

Eventually, though, Takato and Guilmon arrived, and Rika soon noticed the newcomer that was following along a few inches behind the two of them.

"So…this must be Gaomon, I'm guessing?" she asked as she took in the sight of the dog Digimon eyeing her up.

"Yep. I'd be careful when speaking to him, though."

Rika paused, giving Takato a look as she wondered what the gogglehead was going on about.

"Why?" she asked warily.

"He's uh…a bit of a hothead. I can't tell you how many times he flew off of the handle while I was trying to convince him to stay with us."

"That was only two times! Don't exaggerate!" said Gaomon, whipping around to face Takato.

"See what I mean?"

Gaomon's eyes shot open for a few seconds, realizing he just proved Takato's point. Letting out a barely audible growl, he remained silent, not wanting to prove it any further.

As for Rika, however, she managed to put two and two together, and she did not look very happy after finding out just how this Gaomon acted.

Thankfully, Takato was actually paying attention and noticed the look on Rika's face, which forced him to quickly explain himself.

"Please don't freak out, Rika. I know how Gaomon usually is, but the way you've acted before everything happened had nothing to do with why I decided to go with you. I promise."

Takato paused, preparing for the possible onslaught of Rika's ranting, but to his surprise, Rika actually remained composed.

"Alright, I understand. You owe me for this, though. I don't know how quite yet, but I'll find a way."

Takato stared at Rika, stunned as she led Renamon and Gaomon back to her house.

"You okay, Takato?" asked Guilmon, concerned.

"I don't think I'll ever understand her, Guilmon." he said, sighing.

Guilmon just have Takato a blank look before his partner looked towards the door to his house, a nervous look on his face.

"Hey Guilmon, I don't blame you if you want to stay outside for a bit. I can't imagine you'd want to have to listen to what my parents are going to do to me."

Guilmon remained silent, but instead of walking off like he expected, he remained standing where he was, which warmed Takato's heart knowing that he was still willing to stand by his side.

After giving Guilmon a small smile, Takato looked towards the front door, letting out a breath before heading through to meet his maker.

* * *

Rika managed to make it back to her house after a while without any real incident, Renamon and Gaomon in tow behind her.

"What is this place?" asked Gaomon, mesmerized by the garden that the house surrounded.

"This is my house. You're going to be staying here while we figure out a way to get you back to the Digital World." said Rika, although she didn't look too thrilled about having to explain things to him.

"Interesting." he said, his attention still fixed on the garden. "I didn't expect to find out that humans live in nature like this."

Rika was admittedly caught off guard by Gaomon's comment, sputtering for a few moments before finally managing to get her words out.

"I don't live in the garden! My house is past all that!" she said, gesturing towards the inner parts of the garden.

Gaomon eventually looked up towards where Rika was gesturing and indeed noticed the sliding door that separated the garden from the main house.

"Oh. I see." he said, slightly awkwardly.

Gaomon slowly began making his way towards the house, only to be stopped in his tracks by Renamon surprisingly.

Gaomon reared backwards, admittedly expecting Rika to have stopped him, but just as he was about to unleash a Double Backhand out of instinct, he stopped himself when he noticed who was in front of him.

"We cannot let you go in through the front door, Gaomon."

"And why not?" he said, starting to get annoyed.

"That would be because my mother's home. She isn't quite as understanding about Digimon as you'd expect, so she would most likely freak out if she saw you or Renamon." said Rika.

"So..what? Does this mean that I'm going to be living out here anyway?" asked Gaomon, gesturing with his gloved paw around him.

"No, you're not, unless you want to."

Gaomon was admittedly a little miffed at the implications of having to live outside, but Rika didn't notice, as she was too busy walking over to one of the sides of the house, sliding open another door.

"This is my room. Whenever my mom's home, please only use this door to enter the house. She barely comes into my room, anyway, so hopefully this shouldn't be an issue. I would be careful moving around the house either way, though."

Gaomon walked into Rika's room, taking a look around as Rika continued on.

"Now, I'm not forcing you to stay in here all of the time. If you want to stay out with Renamon, I'm not going to stop you. This is just an option if you want to sleep inside a building for once."

Rika looked over at Gaomon, waiting to see what he would have to say about his apparent new living arrangements.

To her surprise, though, Gaomon looked positively pleasant, smirking as he finally looked back at Rika.

"This place could work as a training field. I like it."

Rika, caught off guard, traded looks with Renamon before turning back to Gaomon, who still looked excited.

"If you want to train so bad, Gaomon, you can do it out in the garden. There's way too much stuff in here that can get damaged, and then I'd get in trouble for it!"

Gaomon was briefly considering punching something just to test Rika's patience, but he reconsidered when he noticed the look on Renamon's face, Rika's partner ready to defend against anything he tried to do.

"Alright, fine. I'll stay outside when I train. I'm not making any promises about not causing any damage out there, though. I've noticed how much room there was."

Rika was admittedly a little apprehensive about Gaomon training outside, considering how particular her grandmother was about the flowers in her garden, but she couldn't think of any other place where he could actually do his training without causing damage, so she reluctantly relented.

"Fine. Just be careful when you're out there. My grandmother hates it when people go anywhere near her flowers."

Gaomon's eyes widened a bit, as he was fully expecting to have to argue to get his way. Sighing, he prepared to head through the door back outside.

"You're not going to stay in here for the night?" asked Rika, causing Gaomon to once again pause in his tracks.

Gaomon considered his words for a moment, having not exactly thought about that factor.

"Not tonight. I think I'm going to sleep in that one tree I saw out there. It looked pretty nice."

Rika shrugged, figuring there was no reason to try and argue against him.

"Renamon, go with him. I want you to keep an eye on him." she said quietly to her partner, hoping Gaomon wouldn't hear.

Renamon was a bit surprised to hear Rika acting this way.

"Any specific reason why?" she asked, curious.

"I just want to make sure he doesn't run off on us. That's all."

"Hey! You'd better not be trying to hide stuff from me!" said Gaomon, getting irritated from the constant whispering going on in front of him.

Renamon and Rika immediately separated, Rika giving Gaomon a look. However, she remained silent as Renamon made her way outside.

After a few seconds, Gaomon followed Renamon outside, although he still gave Rika a suspicious look that she ignored considering she was getting ready for bed.

Outside, Renamon and Gaomon made their way over to one of the trees in the garden, one that actually had branches that were perfectly shaped so that the two of them would be able to lie down on them and rest against the trunk.

However, before they could actually jump into the tree so that they could actually rest, Renamon was surprised to find that there was already someone in the tree, giving the two of them a mischievous smirk.

"Man, I almost thought youse guys would never stop yelling in there! I bet you would have woken up the whole neighborhood at this rate!"


	28. Chapter 28

"Impmon? What are you doing here?"

Gaomon looked over at Renamon, slightly confused as he regarded the Imp Digimon lounging in the tree they were supposed to be sleeping in.

"Do you know this Digimon?" he asked.

"Only too well." said Renamon, although she looked slightly pained as she spoke.

Although slightly perplexed by the way Renamon phrased her answer, Gaomon wasn't too worried, as he dropped into a fighting stance.

"Don't worry. I'll get rid of this pest for you."

However, before he could make a move to attack, Renamon quickly blocked his path.

"No, don't!"

"Why not? Are you protecting this clown?" asked Gaomon, gesturing towards Impmon, who looked none too pleased.

"Who the heck are you calling a clown, huh? I'll show you what I think of people who call me names!"

Impmon quickly lit a flame on top of his gloved finger, throwing it towards Gaomon.

"Bada boom!"

The flame flew towards Gaomon, but he quickly dodged out of the way, the brazen attack touching a nerve in the hotheaded Digimon. Thankfully, though, before the tension could escalate into a full-blown battle, Renamon stepped forwards once more, holding Gaomon back from the tree as Impmon stared down at the two of them with a smug look on his face.

Ignoring Gaomon's yelling in her ear to let him go so he can uppercut Impmon into the sky, Renamon turned towards the Digimon in the tree as she began to speak.

"So, would you mind telling us what this visit is about? We were about to go to sleep."

"Oh come on, can't a guy and visit his best friend once in a while?" asked Impmon, spreading his arms wide.

"I don't recall ever saying we were best friends, Impmon. I would consider us as more-"

Renamon was quickly interrupted by an involuntary grunt, as Gaomon soon began to resort to using his fists to get out of her hold, landing a solid punch into her side.

Slightly annoyed, Renamon glanced at the still fighting Gaomon before turning back towards Impmon, the latter Digimon looking curiously at her.

"Excuse me for a moment."

Impmon looked on, still very curious to see what she planned to do. His expression soon turned into one of pleasant surprise, though, as Renamon quickly wrapped her arm around Gaomon's throat in a textbook sleeper hold, choking Gaomon out.

Caught off guard by the unexpected move, Gaomon didn't last very long, only struggling for around a minute before finally passing out.

As Renamon carefully laid Gaomon's head on to the ground to let him rest, Impmon let out a low whistle as he watched from up in the tree.

"Wow, I'm impressed. I certainly didn't expect you to go for something like that to calm that crazy dog down."

Renamon ignored Impmon's comment, brushing herself off as she turned back towards the other Digimon.

"Now, where was I? Ah yes…I would consider us as more well-known acquaintances, to be fair."

Although slightly put off by the sudden change in subject, Impmon decided to play along.

"Well, that's not very nice. After all we've done together two months ago…"

Renamon was well aware of exactly what Impmon had done back then, but as much as she wanted to call him out on it, she still remembered the task that Henry had given them during the last meeting, so reluctantly, she sighed.

"Look, I know we're not getting off on the right foot here-"

"Obviously." said Impmon, pulling an fruit off of the tree and taking a bite, cringing a bit at the sour taste.

Pausing, Renamon resisted the urge to hit him with a Diamond Storm for interrupting her, slowly continuing her original sentence.

"We really need your help, Impmon."

Impmon paused, slightly caught off guard by Renamon's statement. Even though he was surprised at how willing she was to ask for help, knowing from experience how much her pride meant to her, Impmon gave it some thought before speaking again.

"Well, what do you bozos need my help for? Is there a Digimon that's too tough for you?" he asked, adopting a babyish voice as he spoke.

Renamon thankfully didn't fall for the taunt, remaining composed as she continued to explain herself.

"It's a lot more than just a simple Digimon. Try a massive breach between our two worlds and the possibility that Zhuqiaomon and the Devas may be involved with it."

Impmon was noticeably surprised to hear Renamon mention the name of one of the Holy Beasts, as he clearly remembered interacting with Zhuqiaomon back when he was still only interested in getting stronger.

"You do realize that Zhuqiaomon was the only reason I was able to Digivolve into Beelzemon, right? I don't think I'm going to be much help against him now." he said, his eyes wide.

Renamon looked away from Impmon for a few seconds, realizing that he was right for once. However, she couldn't exactly just agree with him. Not only would it not help get him on their side, it would also be a massive hit to his self-esteem, and she couldn't ever imagine Impmon not being his usual self.

So she quickly tried to think of a way to prove to Impmon that he was still capable of Digivolving and taking on someone like Zhuqiaomon. Unfortunately, it was a bit difficult to do so, but somehow she managed to think of something worthwhile.

"Well, what about Ai and Mako? Aren't they your partners?"

"Are you kidding?" said Impmon, looking noticeably taken aback. "They're only four years old! I can't just have them come with me. That's even worse than what happened to Henry's little sister!"

While Renamon was aware of the fact that Suzie only managed to get to the Digital World through sheer accident combined with a random portal, she could see Impmon's point. Having two four-year olds go into a place as dangerous as the Digital World was not an option, unfortunately.

Sighing, Renamon quickly tried to think of another reason to get Impmon to come along with them, but before she could do so, Impmon spoke up.

"Look, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up and everything, but I really don't think things will work out if I come with you guys. No offense, but I'm happy just being me."

Impmon hopped down from the tree, glancing at the still unconscious form of Gaomon before heading off. However, before he could disappear around the corner of the building, Renamon held out a paw.

"Impmon, wait!"

Impmon thankfully paused in his tracks, looking up towards the sky as he sighed in exasperation.

"What now?" he asked, annoyed as he turned his head back towards Renamon.

"If you change your mind, you know where to find us. Alright?"

Impmon was fully expecting her to try to quickly come up with another reason for him to come along after being stopped, but he was taken aback by what he actually heard from her, so it took him a few seconds to reply.

"Uh…alright. I will."

Although he was a little unsure of what she meant by him knowing where to find them, he figured that it was probably unlikely he would ever change his mind, so he didn't worry about it too much. After a few seconds of staring at Renamon's retreating form, Impmon shook his head before finally heading around the corner, disappearing from view.

As for Renamon herself, she was busy heading back towards the tree, ready to finally get a good night's sleep despite the delay thanks to Impmon's visit.

Unfortunately, the only problem she still had to face was what to do with Gaomon. He was still very much unconscious, which came as a bit of a surprise to Renamon considering she wasn't really putting all of her strength into that hold. Still, she couldn't complain about the chance for some peace and quiet, even though she was probably going to get it once Gaomon finally regained consciousness.

Sighing, Renamon picked Gaomon up, the limp form of the Digimon surprisingly heavy for someone of his size. She briefly debated helping Gaomon up into the tree before deciding just to leave him on the ground, not wanting to risk him falling out.

Once she finally set Gaomon up against the tree, Renamon hopped up into the branches, positioning herself so that she could still keep an eye on him before finally going to sleep herself.

* * *

The next morning came, and Renamon woke up, admittedly not looking forwards to what was going to happen next.

There was no way that she was going to be able to hide the fact that Impmon visited her last night, especially considering they didn't even bother to keep their voices down. Not only would that be a problem, but also the fact that she failed to convince Impmon to come along on their plan was probably going to become an issue as well.

Sighing, she opened her eyes, only for them to quickly shoot open when she saw Gaomon's face obscuring her vision. The dog Digimon did not look very happy, either.

"Why did you choke me out?" asked Gaomon, seething.

"It was the only way to get you to calm down, Gaomon." said Renamon, remaining calm despite her heart racing a bit from the intrusion on her personal space. "Besides, you looked like you were about ready to beat Impmon to a pulp, and that would have caused a scene. Plus, I needed to speak with him."

"I'll show you how I cause a scene!" yelled Gaomon, thoroughly pissed off as he reared his fist back for a punch.

Thankfully, Renamon was still on her guard, quickly disappearing as Gaomon's punch nearly chopped the branch off of the tree.

Appearing again on the ground, Renamon adopted a defensive stance, ready to at least give Gaomon some time to vent so that he didn't cause any damage to her or the plants.

Thankfully, though, before Gaomon could launch his Speed Bash attack and start the battle, the two of them were interrupted quite quickly.

"Hey! Break it up, you two!"

Both Gaomon and Renamon looked over to where the voice came from to find Rika, already dressed and looking very annoyed at having to mediate another dispute.

As Gaomon hopped down from the tree, looking noticeably cowed despite the glare he shot in Renamon's direction, Rika finally decided that she wanted some answers.

"Alright, what's going on between you two? I leave you alone for an entire night and you're at each other's throats!"

"She knocked me out!" said Gaomon, gesturing with his boxing glove covered paw towards Renamon.

"Renamon, explain." said Rika, looking towards her partner.

"I was only trying to limit the damage done to your grandmother's garden, Rika. Somebody said something to Gaomon last night that set him off, and I had to knock him out so he didn't start fighting them."

Rika paused, considering Renamon's explanation.

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for that."

"Wait, so you're just going to believe her just like that?!" said Gaomon, spreading his arms wide in annoyance.

"For your information, Gaomon, I trust Renamon with my life. You on the other hand need to work to earn my trust."

Gaomon did not look happy at the way he was being treated by Rika, but she really wasn't interested in trying to get back on his good side, so she quickly turned towards Renamon to follow up.

"So, who is this mysterious person that managed to set this guy off?" she asked, gesturing with a thumb towards Gaomon.

Mentally bracing for what will happen, Renamon finally revealed the name of the culprit.

"It's Impmon."


	29. Chapter 29

Rika was predictably surprised to hear the name that came out of Renamon's mouth. She was certainly expecting to have to search for him, considering how much Impmon liked to roam around the city. This, though, definitely came out of left field.

"Wait, Impmon? Are you sure you weren't just imagining things?" she asked, unsure of whether to really believe her.

"Yes, I'm quite sure. Gaomon and I spoke with him just last night."

"Yeah, before you knocked me out." griped Gaomon from off to the side.

Unfortunately, his complaint ended up falling on deaf ears, as Rika was too busy focusing on Renamon.

"Well then, why didn't you stop him? You remember what Henry wanted us to do during the meeting yesterday. We have to convince him to help us out!"

"I did, Rika. The only problem is that Impmon's convinced that he can't digivolve without Zhuqiaomon's power. Ai and Mako are out of the question, too."

Rika was fully prepared to bring up the two kids as possibilities, but she paused, a little caught off guard by Renamon beating her to the punch.

"I think we need to talk to the others about this." she said.

"Agreed. I'm sure Takato or Henry would be able to find a way to convince Impmon to come with us." said Renamon, nodding.

Rika pulled out her cell phone, intending to call up Henry (mostly because she didn't want to talk to Takato after he threw Gaomon on to her). However, before she could finish dialing his number, Gaomon began gesturing angrily, annoyed at being ignored.

"Hey! What about me?! I'm the one that got choked out here!" he yelled.

Exasperated, Rika sighed heavily before turning towards Renamon.

"Renamon, apologize to Gaomon, please. I really don't want to deal with this right now."

Although reluctant to do so considering she had a good reason to actually do so, Renamon turned towards Gaomon and bowed her head as she began speaking.

"I apologize for what I have done to you, Gaomon. It was not my place to attack you as I have done."

Gaomon clearly noticed the less than sincere tone that Renamon had with her apology, but as much as he wanted to harp on that, he could tell that it wasn't worth it to try and out stubborn Rika, so he remained silent, acknowledging Renamon's apology with a nod.

As for Rika herself, she finally dialed the rest of the number now that she had some quiet time, and waited as it rung before the line was finally picked up.

"Hello?" said the slightly sleepy voice on the other end.

"Henry, it's Rika."

"Oh…hey, Rika." said Henry, barely suppressing a yawn. "Sorry, I just got up a few minutes ago. What's up?"

"Well, it turns out that Renamon and Gaomon managed to run into none other than Impmon last night." she said, getting right to the point.

Henry's still slightly sleep-deprived brain took a few seconds to register Rika's last sentence, but when he did, his eyes widened in surprise, but not from what Rika expected.

"Whoa, back up a minute. Who's this Gaomon you're speaking of?"

Rika groaned in exasperation, realizing that Takato must have failed to mention the new buddy he found last night, and now she was going to have to explain things herself.

"Takato told me he ran into Gaomon last night while on a delivery trip for his parents' bakery. Apparently he got thrown into our world thanks to the breach, and now we have to figure out a way to get him back into the Digital World. And, as you can tell, I got roped into keeping an eye on him."

Henry didn't immediately reply to Rika's explanation, but she could feel the tension coming from his end of the line, the situation becoming a lot more serious.

"I don't like this, Rika. I'm beginning to think that the breach might be getting worse, especially if non-hostile Digimon are starting to bio-emerge in our world."

"I would have to agree with that. We need to close this breach before there's more Digimon in our world than we can handle." said Rika, nodding gravely.

The two Tamers fell silent as they registered the gravity of this new development in their situation. Luckily, though, Henry managed to remember what else Rika had mentioned earlier in the conversation, and he moved to bring it back up before things got even tenser.

"So, you've mentioned that you've run into Impmon. How did it go?" he asked, slightly awkwardly.

Rika sighed heavily.

"Not very good. According to Renamon, Impmon's convinced he can't help without Zhuqiaomon helping him digivolve like last time. We need to figure out a way to convince him otherwise."

"That would probably be best. I'll talk to Takato and see if we can figure out a plan of attack. As for you, why don't you, Renamon and Gaomon take a look around the city? Maybe you guys might be able to find a way to get into the Digital World."

"Wait, hang on. I'm not disagreeing with you or anything about your plans, but why are we separating now? Don't you think having more people would help us figure out a good plan to convince Impmon?"

Henry paused, slightly put off by Rika's questioning, as he wasn't really expecting her to have an issue with his plan. However, he was successfully able to come up with a quick reason for his decision, and he could only hope that she would understand.

"Look, I know you guys want to help get Impmon on our side, but I think it'd be best if just Takato and I meet him. We don't want to freak Impmon out, and having six people and eight Digimon confronting him probably wouldn't be the best idea."

Rika was still pretty reluctant to follow through with Henry's plan, but she could see no other way to get around it, so she sighed.

"Alright, I'll do it. You two had better find a good way to get Impmon on our side." she said, vaguely threateningly.

"Don't worry. We will." he said, although she could hear the nervousness lacing his tone.

Satisfied with Henry's answer, Rika was about to hang up when she suddenly heard Henry speaking again, quickly placing the phone back up against her ear just in time to catch the tail end.

"Say that again? I didn't catch all of what you just said."

Henry sighed, but he willingly repeated what he said.

"I'm going to try and call Kazu, Kenta and Jeri and tell them to join you on finding that way into the Digital World, but if you happen to run into them before I get a chance to call them, please let them know. I'd really appreciate it."

"Alright. If it'll make you happy."

Rika finally disconnected the call, sighing before turning towards Renamon and Gaomon, the latter looking puzzled.

"Come on, you guys. We're going to look for a way to get back to the Digital World."

Gaomon's expression noticeably brightened after hearing that they're now looking for a way to get him back home, but Renamon wasn't as into the idea as everyone else was.

"Are you sure that's wise, Rika? You remember what the portal looked like when we went to the Digital World last time. It was smaller than one of your smallest coins!"

"Well, that's true, but I think that it's still very much possible, especially with your senses. Besides, didn't Guilmon find that original gateway? I can't imagine it would be too much different."

Renamon was still pretty unsure about the viability of their plan, but she could find no other way to argue against actually going through with it, so she reluctantly decided to go along with it and see what happens.

"If that is what you wish."

"Seriously Renamon, stop that already. I've told you before that we're equals. There's no need for acting that way."

Renamon paused, her eyes widening a bit as she realized that she slipped into her old mannerisms.

"I apologize. I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine. Come on, let's go."

Renamon was a little surprised as to how easy it was for her to be forgiven for her transgression, but she decided that it was probably best for her to put it in the back of her mind, so she followed Rika as they began heading out into the city.

Gaomon, meanwhile, followed close behind after a few seconds of confusion, looking pretty eager to finally get home.

* * *

Back at Henry's apartment, the Tamer in question put the phone back on to the dock before lowering his head and sighing heavily.

"Something wrong, Henry?"

Henry looked over to where the question came from to find Terriermon, standing nearby in the hallway, a curious look on his face as he regarded Henry's body language.

"It's nothing, Terriermon. We're just going to go meet up with Takato and Guilmon pretty soon."

"Why's that?"

"To meet up with Impmon. Convincing him to come along is going to be harder than we thought, though."

After hearing what Henry had to say, Terriermon's expression changed to one of distress as he reflected on the implications.

"So…what do you mean by that?"

Henry looked over at Terriermon once more, not expecting to have to explain things to his partner.

"We just have to figure out a way to convince him that he can still be useful even without Zhuqiaomon's help. Unfortunately, his partners are six years old, so we can't just have them come along with us."

"Well, doesn't that just leave us with a whole lot of options?" said Terriermon sarcastically in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit.

Thankfully, that actually seemed to do the trick, as Henry chuckled a bit at the light-hearted joke. Walking over, Henry reached down and ruffled Terriermon's hair a bit with his hand, the Digimon recoiling a bit at the surprise interaction.

"Hey!"

Smiling, Henry began walking past Terriermon as he headed back into the living room.

"I'm gonna go get ready, and then we'll go meet up with Takato."

Terriermon nodded, and he walked back into the living room to wait as Henry made his way into the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead.

As Terriermon listened to the shower going off, the Digimon couldn't help but be a little nervous. There was no doubt in his mind that the big fight with Zhuqiaomon was going to come up soon, but it really didn't make him feel any better, especially considering what happened last time.

Sighing, Terriermon decided it was probably best not to think about it, so he turned the TV on, absentmindedly flipping through the channels as he tried to find something to keep his mind off of what was next while he waited for Henry to get finished getting ready.


	30. Chapter 30

After Henry was finally ready to go, Terriermon jumped up on Henry's shoulder like usual as the two of them made their way out of their apartment and on to the streets.

However, instead of pulling out a phone to call, Henry decided it was probably best just to meet with Takato in person, so he began making his way towards the house, hoping that Takato was in fact still home.

"Hey Henry, don't you think showing up unannounced to Takato's house would be a little weird?" asked Terriermon curiously.

"I know, Terriermon, but I think that it's better if we don't waste any more time dealing with this."

"You know, you can walk and talk at the same time, Henry. I'm sure that you're capable of doing that."

Henry looked up at Terriermon and gave the Digimon a flat look.

"Thanks for the input, Terriermon." he said sarcastically. "I don't want to risk getting Takato's parents involved in this anyway."

Terriermon made a dismissive noise, but remained silent, deciding that it was probably best to let Henry do what he felt he wanted to do.

As for Henry, he briefly considered pulling out his phone, thinking that Terriermon did have a good point, but he soon realized that there was no real guarantee that Takato would even be home, making things even more awkward.

Sighing, Henry continued walking, using the free time to think of a good excuse so that Takato's parents wouldn't get nervous.

* * *

Predictably, neither Takato nor Guilmon were home, but to Henry's surprise, his parents were more than willing to divulge where the two of them were going. Maybe it was because of the fact that they were incredibly busy dealing with the bakery, but Henry was more than happy to take the opportunity.

Unfortunately, it turned out that both of them had also already left a while ago, so Henry was forced to rush to catch up to them.

Thankfully, the two of them were able to make it to the park just in time as Takato and Guilmon were about to leave.

"Henry? Terriermon? What are you guys doing here?" asked Takato, confused as he watched Henry try to catch his breath.

"Nobody told you?" asked Henry, a little taken aback once he finally managed to recover.

"See? This is what happens when you don't tell someone about this in advance." whispered Terriermon into Henry's ear, which earned the Digimon another glare.

"No…am I missing something?" asked Takato, glancing over at Guilmon. "Do you understand what they're talking about?"

Guilmon was about to reply in the negative, but before he could do so, Henry jumped in, wanting to keep the conversation moving.

"Look, here's what's going on. Renamon and Gaomon ran into Impmon last night."

"She did?" asked Takato, shocked.

"Yes, she did! Now don't interrupt."

Takato was admittedly a little miffed after being put down like he did, but he still remained quiet, allowing Henry to continue explaining recent events.

"Anyway, Impmon's convinced that he can't do anything without Zhuqiamon's power allowing him to Digivolve, so we have to find a way to convince him." he said, pointing his finger between the two of them as he spoke.

"Okay, that sounds great, but how are we going to be able to do that? If Renamon was unable to convince him, what makes you think that we're going to be able to?"

Henry paused, admittedly a little put off by Takato's blunt assessment of their chances, but he luckily already had an answer.

"That's because we're going to be prepared. From what Rika's told me, Impmon came to them. Even Renamon wouldn't be able to come up with something that much on the fly."

Takato paused, considering Henry's reasoning. However, it was Guilmon who spoke first, as he turned towards his partner.

"Hey Takato, I think Henry has a point. We'll have a better chance at convincing Impmon if we think about what to say together."

Takato sighed, realizing that he was essentially being outvoted.

"Alright, alright. I'll go along with your plan. What are we going to say, though?"

"I…don't know yet." said Henry, nervously scratching at the back of his head.

Takato quickly gave Henry a flat look, but thankfully Henry had a way to get around this small issue.

"Well, we are going to have to find Impmon first. We can think of something to say on the way! How's that sound?"

"I suppose that sounds alright." said Takato after a few moments of thought.

Henry smiled, happy that Takato was able to understand his reasoning. After gesturing towards Takato and Guilmon, the four of them finally began their search for Impmon, hoping that they would be able to find the crafty Digimon sooner rather than later.

* * *

Unfortunately, the search for Impmon ended up falling into the "later" category. The early hour did enable them to limit the amount of people they would have to wade through to get anywhere, and limit the amount of chances that someone would freak out after seeing Guilmon or Terriermon.

However, the early hour still didn't help with the problem of the large city they had to search through. Still, this gave them a lot of time to think of ways to convince Impmon to join them.

As Takato and Henry continued to walk along the streets, they bounced ideas off of each other, with Guilmon and Terriermon even bringing in some input themselves.

Nothing really seemed to work, though, which proved to fluster even the normally calm and collected Takato.

"Ugh, this isn't working!" he said, looking up towards the sky in exasperation.

"I'm sure we'll get something soon, Takato. We just have to keep thinking." said Henry, trying to keep the conversation on track.

"Okay, that's true, but this search for Impmon is taking way too long. I can't concentrate on thinking about these things while looking for him at the same time."

"You were doing good so far. What's stopping you now?" asked Terriermon, having moved up to Henry's head in the time between when they first left and now.

"You're not helping, Terriermon." said Takato, earning him a glare from the bunny Digimon.

"Well, see if I ever help you when you want me too!"

Takato paused in his stride, standing still as he realized that things were getting a little too heated between the four of them.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said. Everything…everything about this whole breach problem is starting to really get to me. It's a lot of pressure, really."

"It's alright, Takato. I'm sure we're all the same way." said Henry, agreeing with Takato's sentiments, especially considering the same thing was happening to him.

Instead of acknowledging the acceptance of his apology, Takato instead closed his eyes, slowly breathing in and out for a few seconds before finally opening them again, successfully managing to calm himself down.

"Okay, I'm good. Thanks for understanding."

Takato only barely managed to get enough time to acknowledge the smile Henry had before they were quickly accosted by none other than Gaomon, who had rushed forwards to meet them after seeing them from across the street.

"Gaomon? What are you doing here? I thought I asked you guys to see if there was an open portal to the Digital World." asked Henry.

"We have been! We were searching all around for any way to find one, but we ended up running into Impmon again."

Takato noticed the look of disdain that Gaomon had when he mentioned Impmon's name, but before he could ask him about it, Henry spoke up.

"Impmon? Where?" he asked, surprised.

"Nearby. Rika and Renamon are keeping him busy."

Without waiting for an answer, Gaomon rushed off towards the direction of where he originally came from, leaving the others to have to run to be able to keep up with the surprisingly quick Digimon.

Finally, after a couple more minutes of running, Henry and Takato finally managed to meet up with Rika and Renamon, who were standing in the middle of an alleyway right by the exact Digimon they were looking for.

"There you two are! I was almost worried that Impmon would leave before you guys get here." said Rika when he saw the others arrive.

"Hey, I told you I wouldn't leave. What makes you think I'd want to break my word?" asked Impmon, giving Rika a smirk in reply.

"Never mind that. How did you even manage to find Impmon, anyway?" asked Henry as he looked towards Rika.

"Renamon spotted him on top of a building a few blocks back while we were searching for that portal. He tried to run, but we managed to corner him once we got over here."

"Corner him?" asked Takato, glancing over towards the two sides of the alleyway. "I don't see any corners around here."

"You know what I mean!" said Rika.

Even though Takato was a little embarrassed at not being able to follow Rika's meaning, his expression didn't show it as Henry spoke up to defuse the tension.

"I don't see any of the others around here. Did you not manage to get anyone to come?"

"I thought you said you were going to call them! Do I have to do everything around here?" asked Rika, miffed.

Henry started, realizing he did in fact forget to call them in his haste to get to Takato's. However, he remained cool and collected even though he knew that they were probably going to be upset with him for leaving them behind.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about them now. Anyway…"

In an attempt to move on from the current subject, Henry turned towards Impmon, who had surprisingly stayed put despite how long it took for them to get through their conversation. The Digimon did have a bit of a surly look on his face, though.

"Impmon, I know how you feel right now, but…" he said, trying to quickly think of something to say despite not exactly being prepared like they said they would be.

However, to Henry's surprise, he was interrupted when Impmon held up one of his gloved paws, silencing the Tamer.

"Look, I know what you're trying to say. I appreciate you guys wanting to try and cheer me up enough to join you in the Digital World, but as I've said before, I can't help you. My actual partners are way too young for it to be safe for them to come along, and the only other way I can actually digivolve is with the giant chicken's help, and I've learned my lesson not to try that again."

Although everyone was noticeably disappointed at Impmon's shut down of their attempts to get him to come along, they could tell from his expression that there was no way they were going to convince him.

Sighing, Henry looked up towards the sky for a moment before returning his focus towards Impmon.

"Thanks anyway, Impmon. Come on guys, we'd better get out of here."

Everyone besides Impmon prepared themselves to leave, but before they could do so, Impmon suddenly spoke up once more, his tone much more harried.

"Wait, you guys! I do have something I can show you guys!"

"What's that?" asked Takato, slightly confused as he turned back towards Impmon.

Impmon couldn't help but smile as he explained himself.

"You know, I couldn't help but overhear that you guys were looking for a portal to the Digital World."

"What's your point?" asked Rika.

Impmon's smile became even more pronounced, and what he said next was something that no one could have ever expected to hear.

"I found one."

* * *

**Apologies for the kind of abrupt entrance of the portal, but I really wanted to move the story into the last arc before it begins to spin its wheels too hard. This has already become the longest story I've ever written, so I think it was probably best. **

**Anyway, I'd say that there will probably be maybe one or two chapters left before they actually get there, and the Digital World will probably be where the big climax will be before a short ending back in the real world. I'm aiming for around 40 chapters, but there's a chance I may not hit that number exactly.**

**Thanks for continuing to read this. I appreciate it.**


	31. Chapter 31

God…six months. I really apologize for leaving you hanging like this, but as I was working on this originally, I realized I was overloading myself way too much, and it was slowing updates to a crawl. Now it's back, though, and now that my writing schedule's cleared up a fair share, I think I might be able to get this damn thing done. Plus, I can finally end the era of my 1700+ word minimum. (I do 2500+ now) Anyway, here you guys go.

* * *

"What? You found one?"

"Of course I did! What makes you think I'd be lying to you?" said Impmon as he looked towards Takato, who was the one who spoke.

"I can think of a few good reasons." said Rika, though her comment went largely ignored by everyone in favor of what to do next with this new revelation.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" said Henry. "Show us where this thing is!"

"Now hang on a second! I'm not going to just out and tell you where this portal is."

"And why not?" asked Rika, looking noticeably annoyed as she had an idea of where this conversation is going.

"You guys are going to have to do something for me, and then I'll show you where it is."

Rika was clearly not in the mood to be screwed around with in this fashion, but before she could actually try to find a way to get around this predicament, Gaomon actually managed to beat her to the punch.

Showing the speed that he was known for, Gaomon shot forwards, wrapping his boxing glove covered paw around Impmon's neckerchief as he gave the other Digimon the darkest glare he could muster.

"You'd better show us where this portal is, or so help me you'll be unrecognizable when I'm through with you."

Gaomon lifted up his free paw to accentuate his threat, his fist clenching at a higher intensity than he usually would.

Impmon, however, was unfazed. Smirking, he secretly lit a flame with his finger, flicking it towards Gaomon as the dog Digimon was too focused on Impmon to notice.

With an undignified yelp, Gaomon was forced to let Impmon go as he quickly patted out the fire. Before he could actually recapture Impmon, though, the Evil Digimon jumped away as he landed on a nearby fire escape.

"Hey! Get back here!"

"Not a chance, Fido!"

The demeaning nickname ended up touching a nerve in the notoriously hotheaded Gaomon, but he never really got a chance to actually attack, as the others were forced to step in before it came to blows.

"Alright Gaomon, that's enough!" said Henry.

Gaomon managed to stop himself from jumping, nearly falling over before he looked over at Henry, who had an irritated look on his face.

Thankfully, although Gaomon did glare at Henry, he did lower his guard, so Henry took it as a sign that he wasn't going to hit Impmon with a Rolling Upper.

Turning towards Impmon, he sighed before finally speaking.

"What do you want us to do, Impmon?"

Impmon was noticeably surprised for a few moments, having not exactly expected to get them to agree so easily. However, he quickly pulled himself together, giddily rubbing his paws together as he finally explained what he wanted.

"All I need is a small little favor. Nothing that should cause you guys any problems."

"Just get on with it!"

"Alright, alright! Yeesh, this girl needs to calm down for once." said Impmon, looking towards Takato as he jerked a thumb in Rika's direction.

Takato, however, remained silent, only glancing towards Rika for a few moments before returning his attention to Impmon.

The Digimon did end up looking a little disappointed at the lack of acknowledgement for his comment, but thankfully instead of trying to goad one out of them, he chose to drop the subject and move on.

"Follow me. I'll show you where it is." he said, his tone subdued.

No one really looked too thrilled about having to do this task, but they all willingly followed Impmon as he led them out of the alleyway and into the streets.

* * *

Surprisingly, while it wasn't exactly clear at first where Impmon was leading everyone, both Takato and Henry soon realized that they were being led towards the same warehouse district where they all fought Vajramon not too long ago.

They even passed by the exact warehouse where it happened, and Takato could see the police tape covering the entranceway through the fading light, wincing a bit when he saw the damage they caused.

"We really tore up that place." commented Takato quietly as he looked over at Henry, who nodded before speaking.

"I really hope that it'll be the worst we've done. I can't imagine what the city would be like if there was more destruction."

"Probably not very good. Still, though, I'm sure we'll be able to pull it off before the Digimon cause too much damage to the city."

"That's the problem, though. I'm worried about what will happen to the city while we're gone. I mean, sure we were lucky last time, but who's to say a Digimon won't show up and rampage unimpeded while we're running around the Digital World unaware?"

"Well, there is Yamaki. I'm sure he'll find a way." said Takato, his expression quickly changing from confidence to nervousness when he realized what the possibilities were concerning what Yamaki would use.

"I think it might be better just to have some of us stay behind to keep an eye on the city." said Henry, looking grim. "Don't get me wrong, I know Yamaki's capable of handling things, but I really want to not give him a reason to use one of his big weapons, like Juggernaut for instance."

Takato opened his mouth before quickly realizing that Henry did have a point.

"Well then, who do you think should stay behind?"

"I was thinking Kazu and Kenta. Maybe Jeri as well."

Takato paused as he thought about Henry's suggestions. Kazu and Kenta did seem like reasonable choices, but it was his suggestion of Jeri that made him curious.

"I can understand Kazu and Kenta, but why Jeri?"

"I don't know…I'm just worried about what being back in the Digital World will do to her. I know she's been showing that she's doing alright after what happened with Leomon, but I'm not so sure. Seeing the place where he was destroyed might bring back some bad memories."

"Okay, I see your point Henry, but she has Palmon now. Even if we do end up back there, she'll have support not just from him, but from all of us as well."

Henry fell silent as well, initially unsure about whether to go along with Takato's logic or not. After a few seconds, though, he sighed heavily.

"Alright Takato, I trust your judgement. We'll take Jeri along and leave Kazu and Kenta."

"Those two aren't going to like it."

"Yeah, I know. It's for the best, though."

Their plan settled, the two of them looked forwards just as Impmon came to a stop in front of a small ramshackle house, the door barely hanging on to its hinges as it looked to everyone like a small gust of wind would cause this thing to collapse.

Once everyone had gathered around the house, Impmon quickly cleared his throat before finally explaining what he needed done.

"Now then, as I've said before, this is a relatively simple task I need you guys for. You see, I usually like to spend some alone time in this shack when I need to get away from the twin terrors back in town. Unfortunately, it's become infested with bugs recently. Or, more specifically, a Tentomon that won't leave."

"So, all you're asking is for us to convince this Tentomon to leave you alone, right?" asked Henry.

"Yep. I did say that it wasn't going to be that hard, right?"

Henry once again sighed heavily, but he quickly strode forwards, carefully opening the door before heading inside.

However, it didn't take long before Henry quickly rushed outside, slamming the door behind him as he held his body up against it, a look of panic on his face.

"That was a really big Tentomon! They looked way smaller on TV."

"Oh, quit being a baby!" said Rika. "Come on, let's just all go in."

Despite his reservations, Henry willingly stepped aside, allowing Rika to go in as Henry and Takato followed close behind.

As the Digimon watched through a small opening that apparently used to contain a window, the three Tamers stood in front of their target, which was in fact a larger than normal Tentomon.

Both Henry and Takato looked nervous, no doubt well aware of what a Tentomon was capable of thanks to their time spent watching the original cartoon. Rika, however, was unfazed as she stepped forwards in front of the Digimon.

"Alright, you giant insect, this is your only warning! Leave now, or we will remove you by force!"

The Tentomon looked up at Rika, giving the Tamer an unimpressed look before returning to what it was doing without saying anything.

Rika audibly groaned in protest but, having expected in the back of her mind that this wouldn't work so easily, she went forwards, walking around to the other side of the Digimon as she planned to push it out of the building.

"What are you two standing around for? Help me!"

Both Henry and Takato nearly jumped at being addressed so suddenly by Rika, but they willingly joined her, taking spots next to her as they began pushing.

However, just as they managed to get the Tentomon to move forwards a couple of inches, their grip was quickly taken away from them as the Tentomon lifted off of the ground, its wings fluttering at high speeds as it looked angrily at the three Tamers.

"Uh oh, I think we made it mad!" said Henry, quickly looking for an escape route to dodge the impending attack.

Luckily, before the Tentomon could actually attack, it suddenly disappeared in a cloud of data. Before the three of them could actually register what had just happened, though, Takato could see the beginnings of a flame at the bottom of one of the walls.

"Let's get out of here before the whole place lights up!"

Henry and Rika quickly followed Takato out of the building once they noticed the flames, successfully exiting the building only to be met by a distraught Impmon and a profusely apologizing Guilmon.

"My house!"

"I'm sorry, Impmon! I thought since that Tentomon was larger than usual, I'd need to put more power into my Pyro Sphere. I guess I overdid it."

"Overdid it? Of course you overdid it! Now look at what you've done!"

Guilmon looked noticeably cowed thanks to the fuming Impmon, but before the Evil Digimon could get any further with his berating, Takato decided to step in.

"That's enough, Impmon! Leave Guilmon alone!"

Impmon fell silent, considering just ignoring Takato and going after Guilmon, but after a few seconds of thought, he decided just to leave.

However, before he could actually do so, he was stopped when Gaomon appeared to teleport in front of him, stopping Impmon in his tracks.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Away! You all let my house burn to the ground, so I think I might just keep the location of the portal to myself."

Takato glanced back towards the house and was admittedly a little surprised to find that it was indeed a pile of ashes. While it was a little strange at first for it to have burned so quickly and cleanly, he soon realized that with how old the house seemed to be at first glance, it definitely seemed reasonable that this would happen.

As for Impmon, he sighed before attempting to get around Gaomon before escaping. However, Gaomon was quick for a good reason. Before Impmon could fully get around him, Gaomon spun around, wrapping his arms around Impmon and tackling the Digimon to the ground, pinning him down to the ground.

"How about we try this again? You tell me where this portal is, or I will make sure you regret it."

"Alright, alright! Let go of me, and I'll tell you!"

Gaomon was admittedly unsure about whether to believe him, but after a reassuring nod from Renamon who was standing nearby, Gaomon let Impmon go as he picked himself up and dusted himself off.

Everyone waited to see what Impmon would do next, but after a few seconds, the Evil Digimon gave them all a dirty look before beckoning them towards him.

"Come on. We've got a bit of a walk ahead of us."

Even though most of the Tamers and Digimon were still wary, they still followed Impmon as they made their way back to the city, looking forwards to what lied ahead for them.


	32. Chapter 32

By the time that everyone managed to get back into the city itself, it was already starting to get dark, so all of the kids were worried that being out this late would get them in trouble (and in Takato's case, even more trouble).

However, despite them repeatedly trying to get Impmon to pick up the pace so that they could find the portal faster, the Digimon refused to go any faster than his usual saunter.

Noticing the distress that the kids were going through, Renamon knew that she needed to find some way to get this over with, so as they passed through another alleyway, she stepped to the front of the group next to where Impmon was walking.

"Impmon, is there something troubling you?"

Impmon continued to walk, but he affixed Renamon with a bewildered look.

"Something…of course there's something troubling me! You guys burned down my side house!"

"Hey, I said it was an accident!" said Guilmon from a few feet behind them.

Impmon unfortunately ignored Guilmon's outburst, as his attention was still completely on Renamon.

Guilmon, however, was undeterred in his attempts to win Impmon back to his side.

As they all continued walking, Guilmon looked over at Takato, giving his partner a look as he silently asked for help.

Unfortunately, Takato was still very concerned with how long this journey was taking, so while he did notice the desperate stare that he was being given, the only thing Takato could do was shrug, an apologetic look on his face as he couldn't really think of anything that could help with Guilmon's predicament.

Disappointed, Guilmon sighed before turning back towards Impmon, who was in the middle of an animated conversation with Renamon.

Jogging forwards, Guilmon was just able to catch Impmon berating Renamon for butting in to his business when he cleared his throat, catching the Evil Digimon's attention.

"What the heck do you want, you overgrown dinosaur? Huh?" he asked, a look of annoyance on his face.

"I…I just wanted to say I'm sorry for burning down your house."

The only thing that came from Impmon after Guilmon's apology was a wide-eyed look of disbelief, as Impmon was clearly expecting the larger Digimon to continue to be defensive.

However, in an attempt to keep his image up, Impmon scowled, crossing his arms as he looked away from Guilmon to hide the mix of emotions he was going through.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you want my forgiveness." he said, adding a dash of glibness to his tone to make it look like he wasn't convinced of Guilmon's sincerity at all.

Luckily for Impmon, Guilmon fell for it hook, line and sinker.

With Guilmon desperate to ease some of the guilt that had cropped up in the last hour since he had done the deed, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I'll help you rebuild your house! Honest!"

Even though this wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for (he personally wouldn't have minded a bit of groveling), Guilmon's suggestion did surprisingly pique Impmon's interest.

"Really…you'd do that for me?" he asked, retaining his unimpressed tone despite the pleasantly surprised look on his face.

Guilmon nodded, smiling.

"I'd be willing to help as well." said Renamon.

"And me too!" commented Terriermon, catching Henry off guard considering his partner has been unusually quiet for a while.

Somehow, even though Impmon managed to continue walking, his attention was on the ground below him as the support that he was being given from the others was a little overwhelming to the normally gung-ho, only looking out for himself Digimon.

"Thank you." he said, barely audible to everyone except the Digimon.

With a renewed sense of vigor, Impmon actually started to pick up the pace as he continued to lead the Tamers back to where he originally found the portal.

Surprisingly, it just so happened that they were not that far from where it was located, so it didn't take too long before Impmon stopped in front of a large tunnel, which gave Takato a sense of déjà vu as he remembered the night where he had originally reunited with Guilmon in front of a tunnel just like this one.

"It's right inside." said Impmon, his tone subdued.

The three Tamers walked up to where the darkness of the tunnel started, trying to stare into the abyss to see if the portal could be seen from where they were.

Unfortunately, even if the portal was nearby, they had no way of being able to see it easily especially if, as past experiences taught them, the portal was as small as the one that was originally in Guilmon's old house.

"So, uh…who wants to go inside?" asked Takato, nervously chuckling.

Takato looked over at Henry, who looked like he didn't want to go in there, either, judging from the expression on his face.

"Oh, quit being babies, you two!"

Before they could even register who had actually spoken, Rika shoved her way past them, a flashlight in her hand (which she thankfully had the foresight to bring) as she quickly made her way into the tunnel, forcing Takato and Henry to follow her in order to avoid getting left behind in the darkness.

Thankfully, the tunnel didn't go incredibly far, so it only took them a few minutes before Takato spotted a small speck of light coming from ahead.

Rushing forwards, the three Tamers bent down, Rika being careful to shine her flashlight where it wouldn't overpower the light coming from under them.

"That looks like a portal to me." said Takato, recognizing some of the small bits of data coming from it as similar to what the other portal had.

"Agreed." said Henry. "Come on, we'd better go rejoin the others."

The others, who had stayed outside while the kids went into the tunnel, stepped forwards once they had returned, everyone giving the three of them expectant looks as they waited to hear what was inside that tunnel.

"So? Was there one in there?" asked Terriermon.

"Yeah, there was." said Henry. "It's about a half-mile into the tunnel, right in the middle."

"Really?" asked Gaomon, his eyes widening. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Gaomon was just about to rush forwards into the tunnel, ready to finally return home. However, before he could get far, he was held back by Henry, who had managed to step into his path just in time.

"It's way too late for us to go in today, Gaomon! Besides, we need to be sure that we're ready to go before we actually head in there."

Gaomon briefly considered simply slipping out of Henry's grip and making a break for the portal. However, that was quickly dropped when he remembered that the Digital World was indeed a harsh place. Sure, he was capable of taking care of himself with how long he's lived there, but the Tamers were most likely a different story.

Sighing, Gaomon relaxed, returning to his original position next to the other Digimon.

"We'd better be getting home." said Takato. "Our parents are probably all going to kill us."

"Yeah…" said Henry, worried. "Let's meet back here tomorrow afternoon. Make sure you've all got everything you need, and please don't try to hide anything from your parents." he said, looking towards both Takato and Rika as he spoke.

"Well, it's not like they're going to be happy about this either way." said Rika offhandedly.

Neither of the other Tamers chose to reply, as they really did not want to waste any more valuable time that they could be using to get home.

After they all said their thanks to Impmon, the Tamers and Digimon rushed home, going their separate ways once they got back to a part of the city they recognized.

Predictably, both Takato's and Henry's parents were angry once the two of them got to their homes. They both received very stern lectures, but by some form of miracle, neither of them were grounded, which came as a surprise to both of them as, at least in Takato's case, he had already come home late multiple times.

As for Rika, she actually managed to get off easy, as her grandmother was the only one there thanks to her mom being across town on business. Her grandmother was also never one to lecture, so Rika was thankful that she didn't have to deal with that kind of thing.

Unfortunately, with how things went with all of their parents, none of the Tamers were able to inform them about their impending journey back to the Digital World, so they were all forced to wait until tomorrow morning to reveal what their plans were.

* * *

The next morning did eventually come, and while Takato and Henry's parents did all cool off after what happened last night, neither of them were looking forwards to what they had to do. Plus, it just also happened to be their day off from school, so there was nothing to keep their minds off of this predicament.

After spending most of the morning playing in the backyard with Guilmon, Takato knew that he couldn't afford to procrastinate any longer, so after trading worried looks with his partner, Takato headed inside, ready to break the news.

Unfortunately, it did not go well. While Takato's mom was noticeably upset that her son was putting himself in danger once again, his dad had a feeling that something like this was going to happen ever since Guilmon returned.

Reluctantly, they gave their blessings, and Takato quickly put together a pack of supplies before hugging his parents and finally heading out the door, somewhat nervous now that he's all in on their plan.

Once he managed to make it to the tunnel where the portal was, everyone else was already there. Even Kazu, Kenta and Jeri were there with their Digimon, which came as a surprise to Takato.

"Guys? What are you doing here?"

"We came to see you knuckleheads off!" said Kazu, his expression looking like he was forcing himself to avoid going with them into the portal.

"I guess they must have not been happy when you told them, huh?" asked Takato as he looked towards Henry.

"Of course we weren't happy!" said Kenta. "We put all of this work in only to get left behind."

"Sorry, you guys. We'd be more than happy to have you come along, but we need someone to make sure that Digimon that get into our world get taken care of."

"Don't worry, Takato. I'm aware." said Kazu. "I may not be happy about it, but the three of us will protect the city while you're gone."

"We also wanted to see you guys off, too!" said Jeri, smiling.

Takato smiled as well, happy that they were going through with this gesture, but the moment was soon broken when Henry stepped forwards, handing Takato a weird device before stepping over and giving one to Rika.

"What's this?" he asked.

"These are communicators. I think my dad might have spoken to Yamaki after I told him about what we were doing. He had these when I woke up this morning. He gave one of them to me and told me to pass the others to you guys."

"Oh, really? I guess these must be like those ones that we had during our last trip, right?"

"Yep. It's going to be difficult, but they said that we should be able to communicate with them even between the two worlds."

"Great! Everyone ready to go?"

He looked back and forth between Henry and Rika after asking his question, seeing each of them nod while he noted that they each had their own packs, no doubt filled with essential supplies for the journey ahead.

Satisfied, Takato pulled out his flashlight, flicking it on. After waving goodbye to the others, Takato led the way as the other Tamers and Digimon went into the thankfully less dark tunnel, eventually coming up on the portal.

The group came to a stop temporarily in front of the portal, but after Takato spent a few moments working up the courage, the three of them finally walked their way through the portal, the Digimon following close behind as they mentally prepared themselves for the fight of their lives.


End file.
